My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 356: Complete Victory over Xiahou Yuan

Zang Ba is also considered a top-level tyrant who has dominated Langya and Mount Tai for more than ten years.

When the Yellow Turban Rebellion reached Xuzhou, Zang Ba organized armed forces in the local area. Later, the court appointed Tao Qian as the governor of Xuzhou. As soon as Tao Qian took office, he nominally recruited Zang Ba and recommended him the title of Cavalry Commandant.

In fact, Zang Ba was still independent of Tao Qian's control, and only asked Tao Qian for money and food and helped Tao Qian fight against the Yellow Turbans in Xuzhou. Tao Qian took office in Xuzhou in the fifth year of Zhongping (188), and Zang Ba started his army the year before (187), which means it was fifteen years!
Therefore, as long as Zang Ba was there, the areas around Langya and Taishan were basically impenetrable and like an independent kingdom.

From Tao Qian to Liu Bei, then to Lu Bu, and then to Cao Cao, four state-level leaders were replaced in fifteen years, but the local area always only listened to the command of Zang Ba himself.

Although Zang Ba had contributed to Cao Cao during the Battle of Guandu, he was more concerned about his own interests. During the Battle of Guandu, Zang Ba did not send troops to fight Yuan Shao on the front battlefield in Yanyu. He relied on his own strength to compete with Yuan Tan for territory in Langya and Taishan areas and to tie down Yuan Tan's troops.

Cao Cao knew this very well, so he turned a blind eye and promised Zang Ba in advance that he would "guard Qingzhou and Xuzhou for the court." In other words, Cao Cao promised Zang Ba that "as long as you can take over any territory in Qingzhou from Yuan Tan, it will be yours."

So Zang Ba seemed to be working for Cao Cao, but in fact, it was also for his own benefit. The interests of both parties were the same, so there was nothing strange about it.

It’s like if in the future there was a boss telling his salesperson: Just go ahead and sell the company’s products. No matter how much you sell, 100% of the profit will be your personal commission, and the company won’t take a penny. Wouldn’t the salesperson be driven to sell as much as he could?
In this case, no matter how hard a salesperson works, it is impossible to tell whether he is loyal to his boss. The only thing that can be seen is that he is absolutely loyal to money.

Zang Ba, such a difficult existence, was killed by Guan Yu on the front battlefield. It can only be said that it was fate. Liu Bei's camp wanted to completely subdue Yuan Tan and make Yuan Tan completely surrender to Uncle Liu. Killing Yuan Tan's old enemy Zang Ba was also a good opportunity to use both kindness and force on Yuan Tan:
Your arch enemy has been killed by Uncle Liu's men, which is a great favor to you.

Since Uncle Liu has the ability to kill your enemy, you should carefully consider what choice you should make.

……

Let's not talk too much about it. How could Guan Yu think so much about the future when he was on the battlefield surrounded by swords, spears and arrows? Everything he did was for the sake of direct victory on the frontal battlefield, and he had to do it.

Since Xiahou Yuan sent Zang Ba and Sun Guan as cannon fodder vanguards, and they were willing to take this gamble relying on their fierceness and bravery as bandit soldiers, and were reluctant to give up the further promotion and wealth promised by Cao Cao, then everything on the battlefield was a matter of life and death, and no one could be blamed.

After Guan Yu killed Zang Ba, only one thought flashed through his mind: no matter what, Sun Guan must not be allowed to return alive! Sun Guan and Zang Ba had a close relationship and were prone to grudges. It would be difficult to force him to land in the future, so it was better to cut the grass and eliminate the roots.

Moreover, after killing Zang Ba, there will definitely be some brief power vacancies in the entire Langya area, parts of Taishan County, and even in the western part of Donghai County and the part west of Yishui.

Originally, the forces directly under Cao Cao's control could not reach Langya and other places. If he killed Zang Ba but could not defeat Xiahou Yuan and take advantage of the situation to counterattack and expand the territory, wouldn't that be helping Cao Cao? Let Cao Cao directly control those territories?

Therefore, this battle must be won beautifully, and we must pursue relentlessly! After killing Zang Ba, we must seize the power vacuum that appeared after Zang Ba's death!
Guan Yu ignored his fatigue and commanded hundreds of cavalrymen around him to continue to fight desperately. It was at this moment that he ordered the messenger to use flags to signal the entire army to launch a charge and counterattack.

The heavy infantry under Guan Yu also switched from defending in formation to charging posture.

The spearmen on both sides advanced rapidly regardless of their physical strength. The shield and halberd soldiers in the middle, who had originally served as the backbone of the defense, saw that they were falling behind. Under the command of officers such as Qu Junhou and Tunzhang, they temporarily abandoned their shields and began to charge with halberds in both hands.

As they charged, Guan Yu's officers also commanded their soldiers without any instruction and shouted: "Zang Ba is dead! Cao's thieves will be defeated!"

"Zang Ba has been executed! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

"General Guan has great power, anyone who encounters him will be destroyed!"

Guan Yu was very low-key when he first killed Zang Ba. He even didn't dare let the guards carrying the military flag get too close to him, for fear of exposing his target.

His reputation was already so great that it was impossible for him to keep a low profile like he did in history when he killed Yan Liang. Even if he used all the means to keep a low profile, he could only keep a low profile until the moment Zang Ba's head fell to the ground.

In this case, we will just chase them down and let them go.

"The one wearing the helmet with red tassels is Sun Guan! Kill Sun Guan! Anyone who stands in the way will die!"

Hundreds of cavalrymen followed Guan Yu and charged desperately, just trying to buy time to prevent Sun Guan from reacting and turning around to escape.

The Cao army soldiers in the front were killed in pieces. After gradually hearing what Guan Yu's army was shouting, they dodged to the left and right, like waves breaking, and dared not block Guan Yu's way to Sun Guan.

Sun Guan originally wanted to organize his soldiers to save the situation, thinking that Guan Yu was still far away and the danger might not be so urgent. But when he saw the dozens of layers of soldiers in front of him hiding to the sides, Sun Guan realized that something was wrong and quickly turned his horse around to escape.

But the soldiers behind Sun Guan did not disperse as quickly as those in front of him. Sun Guan had only ridden his horse a few steps when his horse knocked over three or four friendly soldiers. He staggered and almost fell.

Sun Guan managed to rein in his warhorse, but the horse stood up and he struggled for several breaths before he finally managed to control it.

Guan Yu, who was on a faster horse, had already taken advantage of the time difference to rush up. Among the group of cavalrymen, there was a ball of scarlet, as red as charcoal. It was the Red Hare that Lü Bu had ridden back then.

Two years ago, when Lu Bu was dying, he was quite like Xiang Yu. Before his death, Xiang Yu gave his black horse to the head of Wujiang Pavilion.

At that time, Lü Bu did not think he would die, but he also knew that it was dangerous to start a rebellion with Dong Cheng, and there would be no chance of a field battle in the city of Xudu, so he would not need the Red Hare. So he gave the Red Hare and his wife and daughter to Gao Shun for protection. After Gao Shun surrendered to Liu Bei, the Red Hare would naturally be redistributed, and it was not surprising that it was Guan Yu's turn to ride it.

Guan Yu's horse was fast, but Sun Guan was not prepared for this. In addition, his own horse hit someone and tripped, which delayed him. When he realized the strong wind coming from behind his head, it was too late.

A few cups of tea ago, when Zang Ba died in battle, he was able to block several attacks based on his muscle reflex instinct before being killed.

Sun Guan was unable to resist and was chopped off the back of his head.

The human head rushed forward and upward for several feet, and the blood pressure and inertia of the carotid artery formed a combined force, spraying scarlet blood for more than ten feet away.

"All the soldiers, follow me and attack Xiahou Yuan!"

After Guan Yu killed Sun Guan, although his physical strength had been stretched to the limit due to the continuous attacks, he still shouted loudly with full energy, and swung his Qinglong sword, indicating that he should use all his strength to move forward.

After shouting, he just killed two or three of Sun Guan's guards at the end, then gradually slowed down his horse and fell behind the cavalry on the left and right.

This can be regarded as a tactic Guan Yu summed up in response to changing circumstances: when he needed to charge into battle and kill generals, and strive to expand the results of the battle, he would often keep silent and try to keep a low profile. When he started to keep a high profile, it actually meant that he would no longer charge into battle personally, nor would he take risks again.

Not far behind Guan Yu, a young general riding a maroon warhorse was also in high spirits. He was waving a long-handled horse-slaying sword and charging forward with a nervous and excited look. It was Guan Yu's eldest son Guan Ping.

In today's battle, he also took advantage of the opportunity to kill two Cao cavalrymen. The scene was a little thrilling. He was also cut by the enemy's saber, but Guan Yu dressed his son in the best armor, so the cuts from the saber could not penetrate the armor at all.

Seeing that the enemy's vanguard commanders had all been killed and that they were about to be defeated, Guan Ping was very excited and tried to charge forward and kill the third Cao soldier of the day, but was quickly stopped by his father:
"Slow down! Just follow your comrades! Who allowed you to rush ahead of your father?"

Guan Ping was startled, and then he realized that he was too excited, and his father had secretly slowed down his horse and fell behind. Before the battle today, Guan Yu had repeatedly warned Guan Ping not to rush past him, and to lag behind him by at least ten steps.

After all, Guan Ping was only fourteen years old, and it was his first time to kill someone on the battlefield. It was enough for him to gain experience to this extent. There is still a long way to go.

Guan Ping had no choice but to stop, but his expression showed some reluctance. Guan Yu knew what he was thinking, so he just lowered his voice and said, "You can't even swing the Qinglong sword, so you can only use the long-handled horse-cutting sword instead. Why are you rushing so far ahead?

"Our swordsmanship is very powerful and consumes a lot of endurance. After a stick of incense, your strength will gradually decline. When you have enough endurance, I will naturally leave you alone!"

Guan Ping was reminded of this and felt a chill in his heart. He could vaguely feel a tingling sensation all over his body. He had just been holding on because of his excitement. If it weren't for his father's experience, he might have made a mistake if he had fought again.

……

Although Guan Yu did not personally rush to the front line, his attitude of leading by example was enough to boost morale and make all his soldiers fight to the death.

With thousands of people working together, their breakthrough power was terrifying. Even if Xiahou Yuan blocked the follow-up infantry of Li Dian and others to fill the line, he could not stop the chain collapse of the front army after Zang Ba and Sun Guan were killed.

Guan Yu's mighty display of killing two generals in a row and the shouts of "Go straight for Xiahou Yuan" made Xiahou Yuan feel frightened for the first time and he dared not gamble his life again.

After all, Guan Yu did not say before that he would kill Zang Ba, but he did it quietly, and later he said he would kill Sun Guan, and he really did it. This is the third time he has made a public statement, so who knows if he has the ability to do it?
The key point is that many of Cao's soldiers really believed it. When Guan Yu's hundreds of cavalrymen charged head-on, Cao's infantrymen saw the cavalry rushing in front of them, so they dodged to the left and right, discarded their helmets and armor, and fled for their lives.

Guan Yu's central army infantry naturally would not miss this opportunity. They immediately followed up and poured in from the gap, tearing the gap deeper and wider, causing a series of collapses in Cao's central army.

At this moment, Xiahou Yuan had no choice but to recognize the situation and stop the losses, and fled with the cavalry in the center.

The only direction in which Cao's army gained an advantage on the battlefield was the left wing where the cavalry of Zhang He and Zhang Liao were fighting.

However, in order to support the retreat of friendly forces, Zhang He had to give up chasing Zhang Liao, turned around and worked hard to cooperate with Guan Yu's central army for a while, buying time for the friendly forces to create distance.

In the end, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He fled frantically with most of the main cavalry and left the battlefield.

As for how many infantry troops could rescue, it was up to fate. Senior generals like Li Dian could escape by galloping away on horseback or abandoning their troops.

But not all generals were so decisive. Sun Guan's cousin Sun Kang was eventually surrounded by Guan Yu's pursuing troops and killed in the chaos.

The death of Sun Kang bought time for the friendly forces to escape, but the price was that once he died, all the troops of the Langya bandits and Taishan bandits factions collapsed, and the entire army gradually laid down their weapons and surrendered to Guan Yu.

Li Dian's cousin Li Jun, the only son of Li Jin, the previous head of the Shanyang Li family, was also killed in the chaos along with the loss of most of the main armed forces of the Li family.

Only the infantry led by Gao Lan, a surrendered general from Hebei, withdrew from the battlefield relatively intact.

(End of this chapter)