My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 357: Counterattack on Langya
Because the troops had suffered heavy losses and their morale was too low before the battle, Guan Yu dealt an additional blow to their morale in various ways before the decisive battle.

In addition, Guan Yu had better weapons and his troops were ready for battle. He used a trick to force Xiahou Yuan to charge while he himself fought back. He also took advantage of the gap when the enemy's reserve troops were connected to kill the enemy's vanguard generals...

With so many decisive factors combined, it was not unfair that Xiahou Yuan was completely defeated in the end.

Even if he had a three-fold advantage in military strength, it was not enough to reverse so many negative factors.

However, the defeat in Qu County was far from the end of the Cao-Liu Donghai Campaign. After Xiahou Yuan's disastrous defeat, Guan Yu would certainly take advantage of the situation to counterattack and expand the results of the battle.

Unfortunately, Guan Yu himself was slightly injured in the final battle of the day, so he had to rest for a few days. He had no choice but to hand over the task of pursuit and interception to Zhang Liao and Zhou Yu.

Actually, Guan Yu's injury was not unexpected, he was just shot by a few crossbow arrows. Guan Yu was wearing the best cold-forged steel-filled fish-scale armor, so even if he had a little "arrow-absorbing physique", it was no big deal.

Considering that Guan Yu killed two generals in a row and charged at the front in this battle, it was normal for him to be hit by a few arrows. It was a high-probability event.

Those ordinary arrows could only embed into the armor surface, without penetrating at all. The occasional crossbow arrows were shot from at least fifty or sixty steps away, and their kinetic energy was attenuated by more than half, not enough to cause much damage, just some superficial flesh wounds.

The fighting on the front battlefield that day lasted until the end of the afternoon, when it gradually subsided. After being shot by an arrow, Guan Yu endured the slight injury and led his troops into Qu County to meet up with Mi Zhu first.

Mi Zhu then arranged for a medical officer to treat Guan Yu's wounds while Guan Yu verbally instructed Zhang Liao, Tian Yu and Han Dang to pursue him:
“Today’s battlefield is clearly in the south of Qu County, but after Xiahou Yuan’s disastrous defeat, he chose to go around the city and retreat northward. He was obviously worried that if he retreated directly to the west, he would be held fast by our army all the way.

At that time, he would have to cross the Shushui and Yishui rivers in one day to retreat to a safe area. Our pursuers would definitely be able to take advantage of his crossing the river in batches to bite his rear guard troops and continue to expand the results of the battle.

Therefore, he relied on his larger number of cavalry to retreat northwards to distance himself from us, and then turn west. But you don't have to worry, I have my own way to deal with it.

Wenyuan, you take all the cavalry and hold on to Xiahou Yuan's tail, but don't get too close, just harass and delay him. You have less than 3,000 cavalry, and the enemy has at least 10,000 cavalry. If you lose touch with the main force of the infantry and fight Xiahou Yuan alone, you won't be able to hold on if he turns around and kills you.

Fortunately, before this battle, I had already told Gongjin to choose a place with dense forests along the coast between Quxian County and Zhuqi and Licheng in the north to land. As long as Xiahou Yuan's retreat route to the north is not far from the coastline, he may be ambushed by Gongjin tonight.

Although Gongjin's troops are far less than Xiahou Yuan's, Xiahou Yuan was defeated and suddenly encountered a large army blocking his way in the dark. He would not know the strength of our army and would be frightened and scattered. Wenyuan, keep your distance and kill Xiahou Yuan if he becomes disorderly. If he remains in order and Gongjin fails to ambush him, then keep the troops in place and withdraw tomorrow.

Guo Rang, you and Yigong lead the main force of the infantry and march northwestward, also heading towards the Sangongshan Ferry on the Shushui River north of Tancheng. If you chase Xiahou Yuan directly, you will not be able to catch up.

But if Xiahou Yuan fled north at first, was frightened by Gongjin and dared not go along the coast again, and had to turn west inland in advance, and was entangled and delayed by Wenyuan, you would go straight to the Shushui Ferry at Sangong Mountain, and you might have a small battle to chase the remaining enemy in two days. "

Zhang Liao, Tian Yu and Han Dang immediately responded by saying they would obey orders and make their own arrangements.

Guan Yu saw Tian Yu turning around to leave, and then he remembered something, so he quickly called out to everyone, "Stop!"

Tian Yuhan Dang quickly turned around, clasped his fists, and listened attentively: "I wonder if the general has any other instructions?"

Guan Yu touched his calf, which had just been bandaged, and reminded him earnestly: "You must keep my injury a secret from the outside world. When you lead the main force of the infantry to pursue, you must still fly my flag. Only in this way will Xiahou Yuan not dare to underestimate me.

You three, remember one thing: expanding the results of the battle is secondary, preserving strength and ensuring safety are the top priorities. My injury is not that troublesome, but there are so many prisoners here. If I lead a large force to pursue them, the rear will inevitably be unstable. It is better to rest and recuperate for two or three days, and sort out the prisoners. We don't have to bite off more than we can chew."

Guan Yu's words were absolutely mature and prudent - not to mention anything else, in today's decisive battle alone, the number of enemies captured and forced to land on the battlefield was more than 10,000.

With so many prisoners, it would be very dangerous if one of them is not handled properly.

Among these people, more than 10,000 were Langya bandits and Taishan bandits under the command of Zang Ba, Sun Guan, and Sun Kang.
There were also nearly two thousand private soldiers of the Shanyang Li family under Li Dian's command.

The remaining 2,000 people were Cao's Qingzhou soldiers, whose military discipline was also not very good. It can be said that these three groups of prisoners were all dangerous characters with a history of being thieves.

If Guan Yu ignores the rear and rushes after him at this moment, the food in his mouth will not be digested yet, and if he gets hit in the stomach with a heavy punch, he will have to vomit it all out.

The work on both sides is important.

...After receiving the order, Zhang Liao and others divided the work and organized the pursuit.

On the other side, after Xiahou Yuan suffered a crushing defeat, he led his troops to flee north first, in order to create distance between him and the enemy, and then cross the river to the west to avoid being caught up halfway across the river.

Qu County is 150 miles east of Tancheng. Even if the infantry marches without baggage, they can reach the area within two days.

Although Xiahou Yuan's cavalry could gallop that far in one day, crossing two rivers would take a long time. If the rear army had not yet boarded the boat when crossing the river and the pursuers arrived, the rear army would basically be wasted.

Besides, Xiahou Yuan did not completely abandon his infantry. He also hoped that more of the already defeated infantry units could escape on their own.

However, all these attempts came to naught when Xiahou Yuan arrived at a desolate wilderness more than 30 miles northwest of Qu County, approximately between Qu County and Licheng, at midnight that day, and was intercepted by Zhou Yu who landed.

As expected, Zhou Yu landed in advance and observed the terrain before the battle. He ambushed in a low hilly forest area on a plain. When Xiahou Yuan approached, his entire army opened fire and rushed out.

Moreover, Zhou Yu was extra careful. He ordered his men to raise flags of various colors, concentrated the fire to illuminate several flags, and then had the entire army shout that Gao Shun and Lu Su were leading the main force of the Langya Army of 10,000 people here.

Xiahou Yuan was already a frightened bird, thinking that Gao Shun, Zhou Yu, and Lu Su had joined forces, so he had to give up the northward march and head west instead. As a result, the army had just completed the turn in the chaos, and was pursued by Zhang Liao in the second half of the night. In the melee, an additional 1,000 or 2,000 people were annihilated, and more than a thousand horses were robbed.

A day later, Xiahou Yuan rushed to the Shu River and tried desperately to cross the river. If he couldn't find a boat, he asked the infantrymen who could swim to swim or cut wood to make rafts. It took half a day before he managed to cross the Shu River.

Although Tian Yu, Han Dang and Zhang Liao were chasing slowly, it took Xiahou Yuan half a day to cross the river, which was enough time for the pursuers to close the distance again.

The most fatal thing was that after crossing the Shushui River, Xiahou Yuan had to cross the Yishui River again. When Tian Yu and others chased to the bank of the Shushui River, Chen Gong, the defender of Tancheng, directly sent a boat to meet them, so Tian Yu and Zhang Liao crossed the river very quickly, taking only one hour.

Finally, when Xiahou Yuan crossed the Yishui River, his rear army was caught up again and he had to split up to buy time for his allies. Liu Bei's army surrounded and attacked the enemy with all their might, and annihilated more than 2,000 of them, including more than 600. The rest had bought enough time, and seeing that they had done enough for their allies, many of them were injured, and they knelt down to surrender.

At this point, the Battle of the East China Sea came to an end. Two days later, after Guan Yu had recovered from his minor arrow wound, he rushed to the front line of Tancheng to survey and compile statistics on the situation.

In the end, in the Battle of the East China Sea, about 37,000 of the more than 60,000 troops brought by Xiahou Yuan were annihilated, with a loss of more than half, approaching 60%.

The cavalry lost more than 4,000 people, and the infantry lost more than 32,000 people. Among these losses, more than 10,000 were directly killed, including those who were killed by the collapse and trampled.

There were more than 14,000 prisoners who surrendered, and another 3,000 or 4,000 who fled during the decisive battle. They were gradually cleared out by Liu Bei's local Donghai army, captured, forced to land, or captured. The rest were all seriously wounded, or drowned while crossing the river.

Guan Yu's side also lost thousands of cavalrymen in the battles, and lost 700 to 800 horses. But after the battle, they captured more than 2,000 horses, so the size of the cavalry that can be formed in the future has increased by about 1,500. However, the lost cavalrymen still need to be retrained or treated before they can return to the team.

In terms of infantry, the troops of Mi Zhu and Tian Yu suffered the heaviest losses in this decisive battle. After all, they had endured the damage for so long, using Qu County as bait to lure Xiahou Yuan into an attack for more than 20 days, which greatly consumed Xiahou Yuan's resources.

The casualties among Mi Zhu's soldiers defending the city reached a staggering 4,000, 60% of whom were the original defenders of Qu County, and 40% were reinforcements that Zhou Yu later transported to Mi Zhu by sea.

In addition, thousands of ordinary people in Qu County suffered casualties while helping to defend the city.

Fortunately, Liu Bei's army had better medical conditions and was in charge of cleaning up the battlefield, so the wounded were treated. Therefore, only about 1,800 soldiers from Qu County died in battle or died of serious injuries, and the rest were able to be rescued. The casualties among the civilians were similar.

Guan Yu, Zhang Liao, Han Dang and other main field forces only fought a whole day of hard and bloody battles and three days of pursuit battles, but their casualties combined were still less than those of Mi Zhu, with a total loss of only three to four thousand people.

Considering that a lot of prisoners were captured and forced to land, if those people can be reformed, Guan Yu's troops can be restored quickly.

However, the composition of Cao's army was rather complicated. The families of those Qingzhou soldiers were detained by Cao Cao and their entire clans were under militarized management. It should be impossible for them to quickly become his soldiers.

On the contrary, the troops that came from the Langya bandits and the Taishan bandits could be reformed as quickly as possible after being captured.

But this also depends on Guan Yu's quick counterattack and taking the Yixi part of Langya County. Only by occupying the enemy's lair will these captives be completely devoted to you.

(End of this chapter)