My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 10: Kill Lei Bo and Destroy the Vanguard

Zhang Fei's courage was commendable, but his military disadvantage was still very obvious.

Lei Bo had more than a thousand cavalrymen, while Zhang Fei had less than two hundred.

Even if there were still more than a thousand Xuzhou troops in Haixi County, they would come to support as requested. But Mi Fang could not bring out all his troops, and had to leave some to defend the city.

At most half of them could be pulled out, which would be only six or seven hundred people, and they would all be infantry.

Two hundred cavalry plus six hundred pre-ambushed infantry against more than a thousand pure cavalry, the disadvantage is extremely huge.

However, despite the huge disadvantage in numbers, it is still necessary to give it a try.

The timing of Lei Bo's appearance was too unfortunate. If he had chased him all the way to the city, would the defenders dare to open the gate and let Zhang Fei in? Aren't they afraid of taking advantage of the chaos to seize the gate?

Moreover, if Mi Fang had already sent people to support him as agreed, most of his troops were infantry, so it would be impossible for him to regret it before the battle.

Because they run much slower than the cavalry, if they are entangled, they will be doomed.

For some things, once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Even if you find that the enemy is larger than expected, you have no choice but to fight to the end.

Things have come to this point, Zhuge Jin has done everything he can, and what happens next depends on the performance of Zhang Fei and others.

If he and Mi Zhu stayed here, they would only cause more trouble, so they took a few guards with them, protected their families, and sped up ahead, leaving Zhang Fei to cover the rear.

After rushing all the way to the city gate, Mi Zhu hurriedly revealed his identity. The Haixi garrison commander knew him, and the rear army was indeed at least five miles away from the city wall, so the garrison commander immediately opened the gate and let these dozens of people in.

Zhuge Jin vaguely heard loud shouting and killing sounds from behind him, as if Zhang Fei, Mi Fang and Lei Bo had already gathered together.

……

At the same time, a few miles west of Haixi City, beside a riverside orchard.

Yuan Shu's cavalry consisted of more than a thousand men, with bright armor and shiny weapons, and they looked extremely majestic as they galloped.

Under the big flag with the word "Lei" on it, there was a general with a face full of flesh and rough skin, riding on a tall horse, wearing iron armor and holding a saber in his hand. It was Lei Bo.

In order to pursue Zhuge Jin and his entourage, he had been running wildly for the entire day and was now quite exhausted, but his spirits were still high - because he knew that as long as he caught up with the enemy in front, he would be able to make a fortune and gain countless wealth and military merits!

There was a horse next to Lei Bo, with a prisoner tied to its back, and it was Shi Ren.

It turned out that after the two teams parted ways in the morning, only an hour and a half later, Shi Ren's fleet was discovered by Lei Bo who was searching along the Huai River.

Most of the sailors under Shi Ren chose to abandon ship and jump into the water to escape immediately, or try their best to moor the ship to the reed marsh on the north bank and then go ashore to hide.

However, Shi Ren was afraid of death and ignored his subordinates' advice while sailing. He kept wearing armor and had to take it off before jumping into the water.

This delay allowed Lei Bo's army to shoot him with arrows on the south bank, injuring his hands and feet. He fell to the ground and was eventually captured.

After Lei Bo succeeded, he searched the abandoned ships and found no gold or silver. He became furious and tortured Shi Ren.

Shi Ren was not a tough guy to begin with. Coupled with today's arrangement, he became even more resentful of Zhuge Jin.

After Lei Bo tortured him a few times, he confessed Zhuge Jin's escape route and said that the wealthy Mi Zhu was in the team.

Hearing that the prey was so fat, Lei Bo was of course even more overjoyed.

Especially when he learned from Shi Ren that Zhang Fei had less than 200 troops, he suddenly felt that he could do it.

He had more than a thousand cavalrymen, killed two hundred guards, and won military merit. He was also able to capture a wealthy man like Mi Zhu and obtain his belongings. He might even be able to extort a large sum of ransom...

If you don't risk your life for something like this, what else is worth risking your life for?

So Lei Bo chased them at full speed, not even giving the soldiers time to have lunch or rest along the way.

They had already set out more than half an hour later than Zhang Fei, and they also wasted some time taking a detour.

The total distance traveled by Lei Bo's army was at least thirty miles farther than Zhang Fei's.

There is less time and more travel to do. Is there any other choice besides running for your life?
Lei Bo's army chased Zhang Fei from the morning till the beginning of the evening. All the soldiers were starving and some of the horses were almost foaming at the mouth before they finally caught up with Zhang Fei in the west of Haixi County.

As for why Zhang Fei slowed down in advance and deliberately let him catch up, Lei Bo, who was blinded by greed, didn't notice it at all.

He only has eyes for prey:

"Brothers! Grit your teeth! Do you see those guys in front? They are all carrying valuables shipped by Liu Bei's fleet, and there are wealthy people in Xuzhou like Mi Zhu who can be captured! Charge! Whoever grabs it will own it!"

"Kill!" Countless cavalrymen of Yuan army, who were blinded by greed, were so excited by Lei Bo's promise that they launched a final frenzy charge despite their exhaustion.

……

Seeing Lei Bo charging,

Zhang Fei, who had already started slowing down his horse and recovering his horsepower several miles in advance, of course wanted to turn around and fight back immediately.

But he was still calm, remembering the last two words Zhuge Jin said to him before they separated:

When Lei Bo gets close to him, he can pretend that he is "carrying too much weight and cannot escape in time, so he has to temporarily abandon his property" to further strengthen Lei Bo's determination to underestimate the enemy.

Anyway, Mi Zhu brought a lot of valuables this time, so he could pick out some relatively inexpensive items to give away.

To be frank, this tactic is of little value. It is just throwing money in front of the battle to confuse the enemy. In history, Wen Chou was killed by Cao Cao in this way.

Zhuge Jin had seen it so many times that he would just borrow it to use as an extra layer of insurance.

Zhang Fei, who had just gotten into trouble, was very obedient and strictly followed the order. As a result, copper coins and silk were scattered all along the river road beside the Huainan fruit forest west of Haixi City.

Lei Bo's troops were already sprinting, and seeing Zhang Fei suddenly speed up and escape, scattering his property everywhere, their inner pride was strengthened.

Countless cavalrymen slowed down and tried to pick up valuables, and more than a thousand cavalrymen suddenly became chaotic.

Lei Bo realized that something was wrong and tried desperately to discipline his troops. He even drew out his saber and killed two particularly unruly subordinates, but how could he restore military discipline in such a hurry?

Just as he was feeling ominous, Zhang Fei on the opposite side finally stopped, suddenly turned around and attacked back.

The two hundred riders shouted in unison, formed a neat line, and charged forward in a sharp wedge formation along the narrow battlefield between Nanlin and Beihe.

The sharp cone head of the wedge is Zhang Fei himself.

"No stealing of property! Hurry and meet the enemy!" Lei Bo was very anxious and tried his best to control the soldiers, but it was too late.

Seeing a bearded, dark-faced general charging towards him, Lei Bo had no choice but to meet the enemy in person and urged his personal soldiers to attack together.

"You are looking for death! Lei Bo from Huoshan is here!" Lei Bo roared, raised his saber and swung it at Zhang Fei.

When the two horses met, the two powerful weapons collided with each other, making a loud clanging sound.

Lei Boyan intended to rely on his powerful force to chop down and cut off his opponent's weapon, or at least cut off his fingers.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Fei was faster than him. When the weapons were about to collide, he swung the spear vigorously and hit the blade of the saber from the side. In an instant, a huge force swept away Lei Bo's weapon.

Lei Bo only felt a sharp pain in the palm of his hand, and his arm was numb and he could hardly hold the weapon, and his sword was suddenly wide open.

While he was in a trance, Zhang Fei's snake spear had already swung back and hit Lei Bo in the face.

"Won't his hands go numb from such a sprint fight?!" Lei Bo was confused and felt that he couldn't understand it. He tried his best to block back.

However, his numb arm was out of control and ultimately only slightly deflected Zhang Fei's weapon. He was still stabbed in the shoulder by the spear, and his right arm was immediately severed along with the shoulder.

As Lei Bo howled miserably, Zhang Fei quickly drew out his snake spear and attacked with another move, completely finishing him off.

Lei Bo, who was one of the bravest soldiers in Liu Xun's army, was killed on the spot by Zhang Fei's three consecutive attacks.

This is not because of Lei Boya, but because he has been running on an empty stomach for a whole day, and his physical strength is probably only 30% to 40% of his peak state.

Although Zhang Fei's physical strength had also decreased, after all, he had taken a nap and eaten lunch, so he could at least have 70% of his peak strength.

Killing the enemy with three moves may seem fierce, but it is actually reasonable.

"Captain Lei!" All of Yuan's personal soldiers nearby exclaimed in surprise, and their morale plummeted.

"Zhang Fei from Yan is here. If you are tired of living, come and die under this spear!"

Zhang Fei roared, but his men did not slow down at all. They swept left and right with their snake spears, knocking several of Lei Bo's bodyguards off their horses.

Each of the deceased had a horrific wound on his chest, which was long and twisted, and was caused by cutting and tearing. The way he died was horrifying.

The Yuan army cavalrymen next to them finally couldn't stand the continuous psychological shock. Once they let out their anger, the sequelae of galloping and chasing for a whole day broke out completely.

Countless frightened soldiers suddenly felt their hands and feet weak, and were completely unable to resist the ferocious enemy.

In addition, some comrades in the back row had not reacted at all and were still snatching property.

This chaos dealt a fatal blow to the fighting spirit of Yuan’s cavalry, which was pushed to the front row.

When Zhang Fei stabbed more than ten Yuan cavalrymen to death with his own hands like a mad tiger, the enemies beside him finally retreated in panic like waves breaking.

The 180 cavalrymen under Zhang Fei were in high spirits and followed him in the fight to the death.

Although they were also extremely exhausted physically, when they saw Zhang Fei beheading his generals and breaking through the enemy lines, everyone felt a sudden surge of potential in their bodies and their fighting spirit rose high.

"Kill!"

Yuan's army was completely broken up by Zhang Fei's powerful troops, and the retreat quickly turned into a rout.

However, the number of Yuan's troops was six or seven times that of Zhang Fei's troops, and both sides were cavalry.

Relying on his own strength, Zhang Fei could at best fight a crushing battle, but it was impossible for him to win a decisive battle.

Yuan's cavalry fled in all directions, and Zhang Fei could only chase a small part of them at most.

Fortunately, Zhang Fei did not need to rely solely on his own strength to complete the battle.

Before the battle, when he lured the enemy past the orchard, he had already simply confirmed that Fan Jiang and Zhang Da had already deployed their ambush troops under Mi Fang.

So at this moment, when Yuan's army showed signs of collapse, Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, who were lying in ambush in the orchard on the south side of the road, immediately led 300 infantrymen each to rush out and block Yuan's army's retreat, reaping the credit and punishing the fallen army.

Each unit consisted of two hundred spearmen, one hundred archers and short swordmen, and a few were equipped with round shields.

The spearmen quickly advanced northward and headed straight for the south bank of the Huai River, trying to completely cut off Yuan's army's retreat, and then blocked them on the way. The sword archers responded by shooting arrows, weakening the enemy in front of them from a distance and slowing down Yuan's army's speed.

These ambushing troops were like a sharp knife, stabbing fiercely into the waist and tail of the retreating Yuan army.

Except for a few cavalrymen in the rear of Yuan's army who saw the situation was not good and ran fast, most of the central and front troops were intercepted.

The besieged cavalry of Yuan's army suddenly became frightened birds, and finally went crazy, trying to break out of the encirclement. The two sides engaged in a bloody fight.

　New book and tickets please collect
　　
　
(End of this chapter)