My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 216: The Three Warriors Fight Yan Liang, and Lu Bu Follows Them

October 6, the fourth year of Jian'an.

Henei County, on the banks of the Qin River.

The Inspector General of the Imperial Guards, Qu Yi, has led an army of 50,000 to surround the two remaining most important cities in Henei County.

Qu Yi led 30,000 men to surround Huai County, the prefecture seat downstream of the Qin River. The vanguard Yan Liang divided his troops into 20,000 and surrounded Yewang, a little upstream.

Zhang and Yang's former troops stationed in Hanoi had been beaten to the point where only a few thousand remnants remained, still following Yang Chou to defend the two counties. The rest were either defeated or chose to surrender directly to Qu Yi to avenge their former master.

Including Sui Gu, who should have assassinated Yang Chou from within in history, but in this life, due to the butterfly effect, he could not find a suitable opportunity to assassinate Yang Chou. In the end, he chose to turn against his side in the battle line when Guo Yi attacked and surrendered directly to Guo Yi.

It’s a pity that Yuan Shao’s army still lacks the ability to quickly attack.

In history, whether it was at Yijing Tower or Guandu, although they had an absolute advantage in military strength, they were unable to quickly break through the city walls.

The situation was similar in Huai County and Yewang this time. Qu Yi was sure to break into the city, and he could also slowly dig through the ground and dig the wall, but it would take time.

The flow of Qinshui River is not small. Both counties are directly adjacent to Qinshui River. Groundwater often causes leakage when digging tunnels, so more time is spent on site selection and survey, and even rework has occurred. Unless a lot of lives are lost, it will probably take at least one or two months to break the city.

Qu Yi was a very arrogant general. In his opinion, breaking a city by relying on a pile of lives would be extremely detrimental to his reputation and military record, so he would rather take it slow or look for opportunities to encircle and attack the reinforcements.

He also knew that Cao Cao would send troops to rescue Yang Chou. If he could kill Cao Cao's reinforcements first, thereby inducing the morale of Yang Chou's army in the city to collapse and surrender, he could save the trouble of attacking the city.

After deciding on this strategy, Qu Yi acted immediately. Early in the morning on the sixth day of the first lunar month, he rode to the siege camp south of Yewang City and shared his latest plan with Yan Liang.

When Yan Liang heard that the commander had arrived, he hurried out of the tent to greet him: "Greetings, General Qu!"

Qu Yi waved his hand and said, "No need to be polite. I have come up with a plan recently that may force or induce Cao's army to come to our aid again as soon as possible. However, you need to pretend to underestimate the enemy and rush forward without vision. Wang's army will continue to go south by detour, force a landing in Wen County, and reach the north bank of the Yellow River.

There is no river between Yewang and Wenxian to transport supplies, so your army can only carry a few days' worth of food. Cao's army knows that you are advancing without regard for the food supply, and may be reluctant to give up this God-given opportunity and besiege you with heavy troops. Once Cao's army is lured to Hebei to fight with our army in the field, I will rush to Huaixian with reinforcements to attack you from both inside and outside!"

Yan Liang was just a brave general and not very knowledgeable about military tactics, so he did not think that Qu Yi's strategy was risky, nor did he think that Qu Yi was using him as bait to frame him.

Yan Liang himself was more than happy to be able to lure the enemy out for a decisive battle, so he readily agreed:

"How difficult is this? I'm tired of besieging Yewang City every day! It would be great if we could force Cao's army to come out and fight in the field! I will lead the vanguard cavalry south and only take the food with me to Wen County!"

After saying this, Yan Liang set off on a march without delay, heading south after only half a day of preparation.

The Wen County they mentioned is a small county in the southernmost part of Henei County. On the opposite bank of Wen County is Mengjin Ferry, one of the eight passes of Luoyang.

Qu Yi asked Yan Liang to ignore his retreat and pretend to underestimate the enemy before rushing into Wen County. Cao Cao had to intercept him from the north at Mengjin Ferry, otherwise the gate to Luoyang would be wide open.

In addition, Lu Bu was conferred the title of "Marquis of Wen" by Wang Yun seven years ago, and theoretically his fiefdom was Wen County.

The fact that he was granted a fiefdom in a small county near the Han capital, Luoyang, which was only separated from it by the Yellow River, shows how glorious Lu Bu was in his short-lived moment of glory before Wang Yun's death.

……

On the other side of the Yellow River, Mengjin Ferry.

The news that Yan Liang gave up attacking Yewang and bypassed Yewang to go south to Wen County was reported to Cao Cao by the scouts on fast horses in less than half a day - because from Yewang to Mengjin Ferry, it was only more than sixty miles, and a fast horse could reach there in one hour.

Wen County is only about 20 miles away from Mengjin Ferry. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is just a short walk away after crossing the Yellow River. If Yuan Shao's army reaches here, it can be said that the tip of the knife is at the throat of Luoyang City, and it is impossible not to fight back.

Cao Cao had just summoned Hou Cheng, Song Xian, Wei Xu and Lu Bu to the front line two days ago. Seeing Yan Liang's arrogance, he knew that he could no longer avoid it.

So on the same day, the three generals of Hou Cheng were approved to fight, and they were summoned to the central army tent, where they were given a few instructions: "Yan Liang underestimated the enemy and rushed forward rashly. Before he could capture Yewang, he led his light cavalry directly to Wen County, which was only 20 miles away from the Yellow River.

Luoyang is an important place and cannot be threatened by Yuan's troops. I order you to lead your troops and cross the Yellow River to Wen County to intercept Yan Liang. I also order Cao Chun and Xu Huang to send thousands of elite cavalry to help. You must work hard! "

When Hou Cheng and other three generals surrendered, they also brought with them several thousand former members of Lu Bu's army. These people surrendered with them, so Cao Cao retained their organization and did not deprive them of their military power.

In contrast, when Lu Bu surrendered, he was stripped of all his military power and is now just a commander without troops.

Upon hearing this, the three generals gritted their teeth and accepted the order in order to show their loyalty and prove that they were more useful than Lu Bu.

"I will follow Sikong Jun's orders! Please rest assured, Sikong, we will definitely cut off Yan Liang's head and present it to you!"

After the three of them finished talking, they took a brief rest and then led their troops across the Yellow River from Mengjin to the north that afternoon to meet Yan Liang.

……

Although Hou Cheng and his three generals were greedy and feared that Lü Bu would regain his position above them and make things difficult for them after he made great contributions, they were not stupid.

Yan Liang had already killed Yang Chou and several unknown generals of Cao Cao, as well as two captains. This historical record was also clear before our eyes.

Although the three generals of Hou Cheng had never fought against Yan Liang directly, just evaluating this historical record was enough to make them alert.

So when they crossed the Yellow River to the north, the three of them huddled together and discussed countermeasures with bitter faces.

"Brother Hou, Brother Wei, we have no choice this time. If we don't risk our lives, Cao Cao will definitely use Lu Bu again. But Yan Liang doesn't look weak either, and our cavalry is not superior. Even if we don't fight with the generals, we can't be sure of winning if we just fight with him. Do you have any good ideas?"

Song Xian was the least confident among the three, so he didn't care about his face and was the first to express his concerns.

After hearing this, Hou Cheng and Wei Xu also felt relieved and agreed with the comment.

On their faces, there was no longer the arrogance that they had shown in front of Cao Cao just now, as they looked down on Yan Liang.

When he was in front of Cao Cao, he was just pretending to be strong. Now that only his brothers were left, who knew who?

As the conversation continued, the moral bottom line of the three people was soon broken through in mutual enlightenment. After a while, Wei Xu finally said a very shameless and despicable method: "Yan Liang leads a large number of cavalry, we have no advantage in manpower, and we are really not sure of a melee, so we still have to fight the generals.

However, Yan Liang’s martial arts are not something we can necessarily defeat in a one-on-one fight. Brother Hou is an excellent horseman and is agile, so why not let Brother Hou go out first to challenge Yan Liang and pretend to fight a duel.

Yan Liang is arrogant, so he will definitely fight. Brother Hou, just pretend to fight him for a few rounds, then pretend to be defeated and flee. Then, Brother Song and I will ambush the light cavalry on both wings. When Yan Liang chases us, we will rush forward. Brother Hou can also turn around and fight to the death. We will use our numbers to defeat the minority and kill Yan Liang!"

Hou Cheng was a well-known horseman among all the generals under Lu Bu.

The novel also says that before Song Xian and Wei Xu launched the rebellion, he stole Lu Bu's Red Hare and fled the city to surrender to Cao Cao, and Lu Bu's army could not catch up with him. This is also based on historical prototypes.

Therefore, given that Hou Cheng's fighting skills were slightly inferior to those of Song Xian and Wei Xu, but his horseback riding speed was superior, it was only natural for him to lure the enemy into pretending to be defeated.

Hou Cheng also knew this and couldn't refuse, but he felt a little embarrassed: "Isn't this too despicable?"

Wei Xu: "What's so despicable about this? Brother Hou agreed to fight with Yan Liang at the beginning, so didn't he fulfill the agreement? After fighting for a few moves and losing, you wanted to take a break, admit defeat and retreat, but Yan Liang kept chasing you, what else can you say? That means Yan Liang is unjust, and we take advantage of the situation to kill him, which is reasonable and logical!"

Hou Cheng then nodded subconsciously, feeling that he had been psychologically prepared by his good friend.

"Then it's settled. I'll lure the enemy in and trick them into a false defeat. Then the three of us will surround and attack them to ensure that Yan Liang is killed!"

……

The next morning, on the plain south of Wen County and north of the Yellow River, the two cavalry teams marched towards each other and soon arrived at the agreed battle site. Everything went as planned.

Yan Liang looked at the thousands of Cao cavalrymen on the opposite side, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth: General Qu is really a god of foresight. He knew that I was going south to Wen County, and Cao's army would have to cross the Yellow River to the north to meet me! Sure enough, I was lured out of my tortoise shell!
On the other side, Hou Cheng led the vanguard cavalry to meet the enemy, and he was also quite nervous because he found that the north bank of the Yellow River was all plains, and there were no mountains or hills to hide the auxiliary troops.

In the end, he could only choose the battlefield between two small woods and let Song Xian and Wei Xu ambush behind the small woods in advance. After a while, he pretended to be defeated and retreated through the woods, and the two buddies would rush out from behind the woods on both sides.

However, with this kind of terrain, it is more difficult to lure the enemy, so I have to be more careful and delay.

Hou Cheng gritted his teeth and stepped forward to challenge as planned: "Yan Liang, you bastard! I am Hou Cheng, a former general under Lu Bu! You only killed an unknown general under Yang Chou, do you dare to fight me fairly?"

Yan Liang on the opposite side was stunned. He was well prepared for a field battle today, but he didn't expect that the enemy would dare to challenge him. Aren't the two captains killed a few days ago enough as a warning?

It seems that we need to continue to strengthen the policy of killing the chicken to scare the monkey!
He gave up the idea of commanding the entire army to charge, and rode out on his own, took more than a hundred steps forward, and spoke to Hou Cheng: "Your name is Hou Cheng? How dare you call yourself a general? What is your position?"

Hou Cheng blushed: "Thank you, Sikong Cao, for your appreciation. Now I am promoted to General of the Central Army!"

Yan Liang spat, "Pah! Otherwise, I would say that Cao is a bad judge of people. You are like a dog. Being a lieutenant is a promotion for you! Die!"

After all, Yan Liang suffered from the "outside garrison princes' generals". Yuan Shao had many warriors under him, and their positions were not high enough. Who told them that they did not control the court and could not randomly assign official positions? Hearing that such trash was the General of the Central Army, he could not help but get angry.

Hou Cheng had not expected that the other party would attack him directly upon hearing his official position. He was shocked and angry, and quickly responded with his gun. There was a loud "clang" sound, and the sword and gun clashed. Hou Cheng felt a numbness in his palm and was afraid.

He had originally planned to feint three or five times, then pretend to be defeated and flee, to make the performance more realistic. But now it seemed that he didn't need to consider the issue of realism at all.

After blocking only two sword strikes, Hou Cheng knew he was no match for his opponent, so he took advantage of the opportunity when the two horses crossed and simply turned his horse and rode away.

When Yan Liang discovered something was wrong, he immediately turned his horse and chased after him, but he was already a beat too late. He had no choice but to run as fast as he could, and frantically used his heels to push the horse's waist to speed up.

Hou Cheng also heard the sound of horse hooves approaching from behind, but he felt that the situation was still under control. He had calculated the distance and knew that he had to run two or three miles to get between the two small woods before he would be safe, so he couldn't run wildly and exhaust his horse's power right away.

A warhorse sprinting at full speed will generally run out of stamina after a few hundred steps, and will slow down as it sprints. As long as the enemy is not behind you, you should allocate your energy properly.

However, just when Hou Cheng thought he was still safe and the two sides should still be about ten feet apart, he suddenly felt a gust of wind behind him.

Hou Cheng quickly turned his head to look, and saw that Yan Liang was holding the handle of the long sword with one hand, swinging the sword at high speed and chopping it straight towards him.

Normal people use both hands to hold a long sword, and usually hold it close to the middle of the sword handle to facilitate balance. Yan Liang actually extended the attack range of the long sword by several feet by swinging the sword with one hand.

Even though Hou Cheng noticed the abnormality at the last moment, he sped up the horse and leaned over the horse's neck to avoid it, but he only barely avoided being beheaded.

But Yan Liang's heavy blow still hit Hou Cheng's back solidly, breaking his armor and breaking his ribs.

Hou Cheng howled miserably, blood gushed out, and he fell off his horse in an instant. Yan Liang chased him, stopped his horse and struck him with a finishing blow, beheading him.

"Yan Liang! How shameless! You chased and killed the fleeing people who were unable to fight back. You deserve to die!"

Shouts of killing were heard on both sides. Song Xian and Wei Xu were furious when they saw their comrades who had pretended to be defeated to lure the enemy being killed.

It turned out that although Hou Cheng was dead, he also lured Yan Liang into an ambush circle. Although the position was not very advantageous, Song Xian and Wei Xu did not care.

We can't waste this pincer attack opportunity that Brother Hou risked his life for! Yan Liang chased too fast just now, and he was a little out of touch with the Yuan cavalry behind him! If we miss it, there will be no chance of two against one!
Yan Liang was stunned for a moment, then laughed wildly: "You rat, you want to ambush me with this trick! Why should I be afraid!"

Soon, Yan Liang was in a battle with Song Xian and Wei Xu. Although the two generals were not as good at martial arts, they were outnumbered after all, and in the first dozen moves, Yan Liang was forced to defend himself.

But as the Yuan cavalry behind Yan Liang gradually caught up and the two sides engaged in a melee, Yan Liang felt the pressure less, while Song Xian and Wei Xu became more and more guilty.

Yan Liang seized the opportunity and took advantage of the moment when Wei Xu was entangled by the cavalrymen who rushed over to rescue him, and suddenly slashed with his sword, beheading Song Xian first. When Wei Xu realized that something was wrong, it was too late, and he was stabbed to death by Yan Liang within a few moves.

Cao's army suffered a minor defeat in the melee and was driven to the bank of the Yellow River, where many of them abandoned their horses and swam into the water.

More than half of the surrendered troops of Lu Bu's army brought by Hou Cheng and other three generals were killed in this battle. Only Cao Chun and Xu Huang, with Cao Cao's trusted Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, retreated smoothly - this was also thanks to the fact that those old subordinates of Lu Bu attracted Yan Liang's attention and served as cannon fodder, buying time for the friendly forces to retreat and keep their distance.

When the news of defeat came back, Cao Cao, who was in Mengjin, was also shocked.

"I didn't expect Yan Liang to be so brave? Hou Cheng, Song Xian, and Wei Xu were all killed? What should we do? It seems that we can only use Lu Bu."

(End of this chapter)