My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 11: A tragic victory: Shi Ren, Fan Jiang, and Zhang Da died in battle

To be honest, Fan Jiang and Zhang Da's interception and encirclement of Lei Bo's rear army actually violated some major taboos in military strategy, which led to the final fierce battle between the two sides becoming so bloody.

As the saying goes, "Do not stop a retreating army and do not pursue a desperate enemy." When the enemy army is already showing signs of collapse and defeat, if you insist on completely blocking their escape route, it will easily force the enemy to fight for their life.

A small gap should be left so that the enemy can see a chance to escape through this gap.

Only in this way can we completely destroy their will to fight, and then attack frantically from the flanks of the gaps and severely kill the enemy's manpower.

Even if doing so would eventually cause a few more enemies to escape, our own losses could be minimized.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, war does not allow for assumptions.

Zhang Fei had no choice, as he lacked talented people. He had to personally lead the mission of feigning defeat and luring the enemy, and he was too busy to do anything else.

The ambush from behind could only be left to Fan Jiang and Zhang Da to deal with it on their own.
They were inexperienced and had poor eloquence. In their rage, they even forgot to order their soldiers to shout in order to shake the enemy and force them to surrender.

It's no surprise that it ended up like this.

Fortunately, the terrain along the Huai River ultimately helped Zhang Fei.

The Huaihe River basin is located in a vast alluvial plain. Since ancient times, the amount of sediment it carries is second only to the Yellow River, so the geology along the river is very soft and muddy.

After all, Fan Jiang and Zhang Da's interception could not completely block the river, so there would always be a glimmer of hope for Lei Bo's cavalry to escape in the muddy ground closest to the river.

After the initial fierce fighting, as Zhang Fei got closer and closer, he squeezed the remnants of Yuan's army into a ball and trampled on them. Finally, some of Yuan's cavalry thought of charging the mudflats by the river in an attempt to bypass the encirclement.

Batches of horses rushed into the muddy ground, got stuck in the mud, or stumbled and threw the cavalry out. The soldiers who followed saw that they could not charge on horseback, so they abandoned their horses and walked, and some even jumped into the Huai River to swim to escape.

What's more crucial is that Zhang Fei's experience in battlefield control is much richer than Fan Jiang and Zhang Da. He knows how to let the entire army shout "Those who surrender will not be killed" to further shake the besieged enemy and make more and more Yuan soldiers who were stuck in the mud and found they could not escape directly kneel down and surrender.

Once this trend appears, it will be impossible to stop it.

In the end, only more than 300 of Lei Bo's remaining troops escaped, and quite a few of them even abandoned their horses.

The remaining two to three hundred people were killed, injured or beaten by Zhang Fei's army, and the last five to six hundred people were completely desperate and chose to surrender directly.

Zhang Fei defeated nearly 1,500 pure cavalry with only 200 cavalry and 600 infantry. He annihilated the enemy and captured three-quarters of them, and also killed the enemy's main general. The result was very fruitful.

……

"It's great! Zifang! We have such a great victory today, we must have a drink tonight! You Mi family are really loyal! Zizhong raised money and food for big brother, and you are so determined and brave to fight! It's really rare!"

After securing victory and ensuring that the surrendered soldiers laid down their weapons, Zhang Fei immediately rode his horse across the battlefield, eagerly searching for the ambush commander Mi Fang.

After confirming that he was not injured, he breathed a sigh of relief and chatted and laughed with him.

The Mi family was the family that contributed the most to Liu Bei's conquest of Xuzhou. Even though Zhang Fei knew that Mi Fang would not charge into the battle personally, but would only lead troops to support the enemy, he still had to care about his safety.

However, when Mi Fang saw Zhang Fei, he did not feel relaxed at all, but instead looked embarrassed.

Zhang Fei noticed something was wrong and asked immediately, "Did you get hurt in the fierce battle? Are you feeling unwell?"

Mi Fang forced a smile and said, "How dare I lead the troops myself? I will let Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, who you sent to lead the way for me, lead the front team and fight first.

I never thought that Lei Bo's defeated army would be desperate and charge at all costs. In the bloody battle, Fan Jiang was killed on the spot, and Zhang Da was also seriously injured in many places - the third general will not blame me for breaking your heart, right? You should go and have a look quickly. "

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fei's expression suddenly darkened. He rushed to the side and found the seriously injured Zhang Da to check his injuries.

Zhang Da was not stabbed, but was hit head-on by a cavalry horse charging at full speed, causing him to fly away with many broken bones and internal organs, so he did not die on the spot. However, Zhang Fei knew that he was beyond saving after just one look. He just hugged Zhang Da and said a few words of comfort, but in the end, he could not change the situation.

Zhang Fei punched the ground several times to vent his anger, but considering that Mi Fang didn't want this, he still forced himself to hold back and didn't get angry any further. Instead, he comforted her:
"Victory or defeat is unpredictable, life and death are determined by fate. We have already prepared for such a bloody battle. When we return, we will take good care of Fan Jiang and Zhang Da's wife and children."

The group turned their grief and anger into strength, worked hard to clean up the battlefield, tied up the disarmed prisoners, and took them back to Haixi City.

But perhaps misfortunes never come singly. While cleaning up the battlefield, Zhang Fei discovered another detail that made him sad.

Shi Ren's body was found on the back of a horse used by Yuan's army to tie up prisoners.

He was shocked: Didn’t Shi Ren part ways with them early in the morning and retreat to Huaipu with the fleet? How could he die here?
Zhang Fei was so furious that he naturally tortured the Yuan army prisoners next to him and forced them to tell him the situation.

Soon, a garrison commander of Yuan's army could no longer endure the torture and pointed out his superior:
"General, stop fighting! I confess! This man was captured by Captain Lei when he was chasing the fleet early in the morning. He tortured him and got your itinerary. He knew you were escorting Mi Zhu and a lot of property, so Captain Lei chased after you at all costs, but ended up getting ambushed.

The Marquis Lei next to him is the cousin of Captain Lei. When he saw his brother being killed by you, General, he was so angry that he insisted that the prisoner was your spy who deliberately lured us into an ambush, and then he chopped him to death to vent his anger. This is none of our business!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fei's eyes widened with anger, he roared, drew his sword and chopped off the military marquis named Lei, then cut off his head and threw it next to Shi Ren's body.

"Brother Shi, you have been my old brother for ten years. You shouldn't have disclosed the whereabouts of the master as soon as you were captured. In the end, you didn't escape with your life.

But I have already killed the enemy who killed you, so it can be considered as revenge for you. The right and wrong are wiped out. You can rest in peace.

After I go back, I will tell my second brother that after being captured, you would rather die than surrender, and deliberately leaked false information to the enemy and lured the enemy into my ambush circle, which was why the enemy general got angry and killed you. This way, your wife and children can still get some money and food for compensation. "

Zhang Fei sighed and felt that he had done his best. He threw the head to the ground, took a leather bag from the horse's back, sprinkled some wine on it and offered sacrifice.

Finally, he drank the remaining wine in one gulp.

As for Fan Jiang and Zhang Da who died gloriously in battle, Zhang Fei would definitely transport their bodies back to the city and give them a proper burial.

They died fighting bravely, unlike Shi Ren, who betrayed them at the last moment after being tortured.

After dealing with all this, Zhang Fei waved his hand and signaled the troops to return to the city. "Alas, although this battle was a victory, it was a tragic victory. I lost Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, and my second brother lost Shi Ren. How can I explain it when I return?"

Zhang Fei felt depressed as he walked.

In his heart, defeating a larger force with a smaller one, killing a Lei Bo and annihilating more than a thousand enemy cavalrymen, was not worth the death of three of his old soldiers.

……

After Zhuge Jin and Mi Zhu escaped safely back to the city, they were quite nervous. Unfortunately, as pure civil servants, they were unable to fight in the battlefield and could only wait to ensure that the city was not lost.

When the noise outside the city gradually subsided, it was already completely dark.

Cleaning up the battlefield and collecting the prisoners took at least another hour.

Zhang Fei was not used to sending someone to report safety first, so the army returned to the city after half past the hour of Xu.

Mi Zhu waited impatiently at the city gate. After confirming that his second brother Mi Fang was safe, he complained, "In the future, we will send our subordinates to lead the troops in these battles. We don't know much about soldiers."

On the other side, Zhuge Jin put his hands behind his back and observed Zhang Fei quietly.

Zhang Fei saw him looking up and down, and hurried over to report that he was safe:

"Don't worry, sir! I've been through many dangerous battles, I'll be fine. But I hope your family wasn't disturbed when you entered the city just now."

Zhuge Jin nodded slightly: "We were able to reach Haixi safely this time thanks to Yide's protection."

Zhang Fei's expression darkened and he told the news of Fan Jiang, Zhang Da and Shi Ren's death.

Zhuge Jin almost revealed an expression that he shouldn't have, but fortunately he had received professional emotional management training and was able to control himself in an instant.

Fan Jiang, Zhang Da and Shi Ren are now considered "loyal and righteous men" and should not be laughed at.

The two chatted for a while, and Mi Zhu said that everyone was fighting and running around all day and was extremely tired and hungry, so they went back to the county government office to rest. The group happily followed him.

In today's battle, Yuan's army lost some war horses, including those that were lame and could no longer be used, a total of nearly 200 horses. There were also 800 horses that were captured intact and could continue to be used by the army.

In order to save food and other storable foods, the entire army has been living on horse meat for the past few days.

Each horse can yield about 300 kilograms of meat, and if you add in the internal organs, it is enough to feed the Haixi garrison for a month or so.

This place is located at the mouth of the Huaihe River and belonged to Yancheng City in later generations. From the name, you can tell that it is a super salt-producing area. Horse meat that cannot be eaten temporarily can be pickled and preserved.

The salt sold by the Lianghuai salt merchants, who would later become known as the richest people in the world, was all produced here.

However, the technology in the Han Dynasty was relatively backward. People only knew how to boil salt but not how to dry it, so the energy consumption was relatively high and the production efficiency was low.

……

Without further ado, Zhang Fei and Zhuge Jin returned to the county government office, where they each ate a few pieces of boiled horse belly to slightly relieve their hunger.

Zhang Fei asked about the next plan:

"Sir, will we still have a chance to help our elder and second brothers share the burden of killing the enemies? Are we just going to wait for them to decide the outcome with Ji Ling and Liu Xun?"

Zhuge Jin consoled him, "It is a merit to defend Haixi well. Besides, we are here to collect military rations. Have you forgotten your mission after just fighting a battle?"
"The remaining food in Huaiyin can only last for 20 days at most. After the decisive battle, we may only have 10 days left after the counterattack to Guangling County. How can we talk about counterattack with such a small amount of food? If the remnants of Liu Xun can hold on until we run out of food, everything will be over."

"How could I forget? It's just that I just had a fierce battle and my blood is boiling."

Zhang Fei finally turned away from the fighting, scratched his beard awkwardly, and then stopped pestering Zhuge Jin and went to smile and try to please Mi Zhu.

"Zi Zhong! The rest is up to you! I know you've already spent a lot of money, but now I have no choice but to ask you to buy some more military supplies..."

Zhang Fei was also very clear that things like logistics and money were not something that could be handled by smart people alone, and he had to rely on the help of wealthy people.

Mi Zhu was embarrassed and quickly explained:

"Money is only a thing outside of one's body. Zhu will do his best. I have already thought about it. Now that Lu Bu and Yuan Shu are enemies, there is no way to buy food nearby.

Last year, the local area was ravaged by Zuo Rong, and the savings of the rich households were looted, leaving no surplus food. In the south, Sun Ce was in a stalemate with Xu Gong, and the surplus food must have been requisitioned for military supplies.

So if we want to buy military rations within ten days and have them delivered, we have no choice but to use our family’s ships and go north along the coast to Qingzhou to find Kong Beihai.”

Zhang Fei felt relieved after hearing this: "As expected of Zi Zhong, he has already made arrangements and even thought of such a remote way. I feel relieved now."

"Of course. Our Mi family has been in business for twenty years. I can't say anything else, but I know where to buy food in the surrounding states."

Mi Zhu stroked his beard, with a rare look of pride on his face. After all, everyone has their own expertise.

However, before he could finish feeling proud, Mi Fang standing beside him suddenly became startled.

He has been stationed in Haixi County recently, and is also responsible for the defense of his hometown, Qu County. He is much more well-informed than Zhang Fei, Mi Zhu and others who are under siege in Huaiyin.

When Mi Fang heard his elder brother say that he was going to ask Kong Rong to buy grain, he immediately realized that his elder brother didn't know something, so he quickly reminded him:

"Brother, I'm afraid it's impossible to ask Kong Beihai to buy food. During the stalemate between the lord and the Yuan army, Beihai County was conquered by Yuan Tan. Now Kong Rong has probably fled to Xuchang to seek an official position. Yuan Tan has just been fighting with Kong Beihai for several months, so the local area must be short of food."

Zhang Fei and Mi Zhu were both shocked when they heard this. Zhang Fei was so anxious that he scratched his head and said, "What should we do? What should we do?"

(End of this chapter)