Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 94 Waiting for someone will be very painful
A dozen cavalrymen who were delivering the message quickly rushed out of the north gate, then turned around and galloped south without stopping.

Taishi Ci hurried to the tent to report that these people were riding fast horses and the scouts were too far away to stop them.

Liu Bei chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Ziyi. The cavalry is heading south, and they must be crossing the river to find Wen Chou's troops. This is good news for us. The siege of Fanyang can be lifted."

Guan Yu immediately understood what he meant, frowned slightly and said: "Brother, although the siege of Fanyang can be lifted, our situation is dangerous. Yuan's army is coming from behind, and there are also Xiongnu people mixed in. If we ride quickly, they will appear behind our army in a few days."

"If you are not careful, you may end up like Yan Liang. Although you can use baggage carts to resist the Xiongnu cavalry, you still need to make preparations early!"

"Second brother is telling the truth." Zhang Fei also agreed.

He liked to go into battle and kill the enemy, but he didn't like to be taken advantage of by the enemy. Moreover, the food supply would be cut off, so there was no need to stay outside Yecheng. It would be a good idea to withdraw the troops early.

Taishi Ci was about to speak but stopped. Liu Bei saw him and said with a smile: "Ziyi, feel free to speak. I am your commander and your brother, so why should I not speak?"

Taishi Ci made the first contribution in the attack on Neihuang County, but it was not yet time to reward him, so he was temporarily promoted to the position of military commander. He selected the war horses captured from Yan Liang and the soldiers who were good at riding horses from the army and sent them to Taishi Ci's troops to command, a total of more than 200 horses.

Taishi Ci also knew that he was highly valued by the envoy. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "The scouts reported that there are many bows and crossbows on the city wall. Since we can't surround the city for long and withdrawing troops will affect morale, why not abandon Yecheng and attack Wen Chou's troops instead? If we can achieve another success, Jizhou will be shocked!"

Liu Bei clapped his hands and laughed, "Zi Yi has the talent of a great general. I am planning to lead the army to retreat after dark and march north along the Huan River. I need a general who is both wise and brave to act as a decoy here to delay the enemy for two to three days before crossing the river and retreating to Neihuang."

"Brother, how about I stay?" Guan Yu asked.

"No, no." Zhang Fei quickly stepped forward, holding Guan Yu's arm and said anxiously, "Brother, don't argue with me. You have made great contributions in taking Yin'an County, and Ziyi has also made great contributions. Only Zhang Yide has not made any great contributions. You can't let me come here in vain. It would be better for you to ask Zilong and I to stay in Pingyuan so that we don't have to watch you make great contributions."

Several people burst into laughter, and even Taishi Ci couldn't help but smile.

Guan Yu pointed at Zhang Fei speechlessly and said, "Yide, you are really stupid. Everything is arranged by your brother, and you are still complaining?"

Liu Bei smiled and understood that Zhang Fei was specifically complaining about him, while everyone else had made military achievements.

He was the only one who hadn't. Although he had led the Jia Battalion to climb the city wall when attacking Fanyang, auxiliary soldiers had already rushed up before that, and Zhang Fei only widened the gap.

After several battles, he had made some contributions, but he was still not as good as the other generals, so he stood out and competed for merit.

Liu Bei pondered for a while, remembering that Yide had fought with him for many years and had seen how he deceived the Yellow Turban Army.

He thought to himself: "Yide may really have a talent for confusing the enemy..."

After all, in history, when Cao Cao's pursuers arrived at Changbanpo, it was Zhang Fei who led 20 cavalrymen to block the water and cut off the bridge, with his eyes wide open and his spear horizontally in his hand, shouting: "I am Zhang Yide, come and fight to the death!"

No one from Cao's army dared to step forward, so Zhang Fei withdrew calmly.

Liu Bei looked up at Zhang Fei and said decisively: "Okay, I will entrust this important task to you. If you can ambush and defeat the enemy, you will be the first to achieve the credit!"

"Yes!" Zhang Fei answered loudly with a delighted look on his face.

Order the chief cook to set up more pots and cook the meat they brought so that the soldiers can have a good meal.

Prepare plenty of dry food and water.

He ordered the soldiers to check the armour, armour and weapons, and the assistants to cut grass, brush the horses' hair and feed them some beans.

In the middle of the night, Liu Bei ordered his soldiers to march quietly with their mouths covered and their horses' mouths and hooves wrapped with linen.

Leading most of the troops and hundreds of empty baggage carts, they hurriedly marched five or six miles at night, took a short rest, and then marched at a very fast speed towards the river.

An ambush on the way back to the reinforcements led by Wen Chou would be of little use because the enemy would certainly be prepared. The only place where he could be off guard was the gap of two miles on the way back to the original camp after crossing the river.

When Liu Bei was in Fanyang, he looked out over the river and discovered that Yuan's army had specially set up camp two miles away from the river.

We can take advantage of the returning Yuan army's complacency, thinking that the military camp is nearby and underestimate the enemy. After one third of the enemy has crossed the river, we can send cavalry to disrupt their formation, and then the infantry will follow up to kill them.

On the other side, auxiliary soldiers were sent to form a formation with baggage carts to block the enemy from the camp, and then burn the wooden bridge after the combat soldiers and cavalry defeated Yuan's army that had crossed the river.

Then turn around and break through the wall of Yuan’s camp.

This method is not without its shortcomings. If Liu Bei had not learned from Yan Liang's army that the main general in the Fanyang direction was Wen Chou, he would not have taken the risk.

It is hard to say how effective it will be when encountering a cautious general with strict military discipline.

If it’s Wen Chou, I’m sorry that he is good at using cavalry and his military discipline is not strict.

There were people who would immediately form a battle array even if they were crossing a river in front of their own military camp, but Wen Chou was hardly one of them.

Cao Mengde led 600 cavalrymen and defeated the thousands of cavalrymen under Wen Chou who lacked military discipline.

Liu Bei thought that Yan Liang and Wen Chou were equally famous, so it would be best to defeat them together and expose the reputation of Hebei's famous general.

……

On March 23rd, the sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds. Liu Bei had arrived at the north bank of the Huan River, only ten miles away from Yuan’s camp.

He hid the army in the mountains and forests, leaving Guan Yu to rest and guard, while Liu Bei, with Taishi Ci and his cavalry, secretly went to observe the Yuan army camp and the wooden bridge built on the river.

After carefully looking at the camp, Liu Bei couldn't help but smile when he learned that Wen Chou had not yet withdrawn his troops and crossed the river.

While riding a horse and gazing at the wooden bridge from afar, I silently calculated the number of people passing through it and the approximate number of people passing through it, but I was still worried about taking a detour of ten miles.

"really!"

Liu Bei secretly thought that it was a good thing that he was cautious. There were actually three crossing points in the river channel of more than ten miles, and the bridges at the other two were smaller in scale.

However, when the army was attacked halfway across the river, Yuan's army was able to react by leading the army to walk a little further across the river and then attack from the north.

It’s hard to say who will win this battle.

If the enemy situation changes, one must change according to the enemy. Liu Bei immediately changed his previous decision. He first used cavalry to disrupt the enemy's formation, then quickly went north with kerosene to burn two wooden bridges, and rode back and forth to patrol the river.

The Xiandeng Camp launched a quick surprise attack, and the Tiejia Camp blocked the Yuan army camp to prevent them from rushing to the rescue.

The auxiliary soldiers borrowed pack horses and suddenly pretended to be one or two thousand cavalrymen in the rear, which frightened Yuan's army and destroyed their courage and morale so that they dared not to fight the enemy.

After Liu Bei returned, he immediately discussed this strategy with Guan Yu and Taishi Ci, and after they nodded in agreement, he implemented it.

In order to prevent any changes in Yuan’s army at night and fail to get timely information, night patrols were sent out to scout the enemy so that if there was any situation, they could go straight to the camp and report to Liu Bei without any hindrance.

After finishing his work, Liu Bei looked up at the sky, which was covered with dark clouds, and thought: "The weather has changed. Wen Chou should return tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Don't keep me waiting for too long."

He was waiting to lead his troops to rush in both directions along the Huan River with Wen Chou.

(End of this chapter)