My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 407: Annihilate the South and North, Kill Wu Ba and Cai Yang
Following Gan Ning's loud shout, Liu Bei's army, which had been trapped in the camp by Li Tong's surprise attack force, suddenly became energized and began to counterattack.

The originally sparse bow and crossbow arrows suddenly became several times more dense.

For a moment, arrows came like rain and flying locusts. The armor-piercing conical arrowheads made of steel made bursts of breaking wind sounds, knocking down a large number of the front team of Li Tong's surprise attack force.

Afterwards, the gate of Yiyang North Camp was opened wide, and Gan Ning took the lead and rushed out, followed by hundreds of elite armored cavalrymen. They formed a wedge formation and bravely charged forward.

Gan Ning was now a general, and he didn't have to lead the troops every time he led a large army. But tonight, Zhuge Liang had told him to lead the troops and shout as he charged, so that the enemy could quickly and fully confirm that Gan Ning was really here, thus breaking the enemy's morale.

The reason why Cai Yang and Li Tong dared to attack before was based on a cognitive premise, that is, they mistakenly believed that Gan Ning had not arrived yet and mistakenly believed that they could deal with Liu Bei's central army alone. Once this cognitive foundation collapsed, the blow to the enemy's morale would be absolutely devastating.

Gan Ning was a brave man by nature, so he was naturally happy to do so. And the cavalry under his command were specially equipped with such heavy armor, which was also arranged for tonight's situation.

"Gan Ning has been waiting here for a long time! You bastard Li Tong, come and die!" Gan Ning waved his iron halberd wildly, and his men were almost no match for him. He killed seven or eight enemy soldiers with one charge.

The other cavalrymen around him were also wearing one-piece forged steel breastplates, brandishing horse-slashing swords and pushing forward. A huge hole was torn open in Li Tong's troops, and all the blood and flesh flew everywhere. The tip of the wedge-shaped breakthrough went straight to the north gate of Yiyang City, and it moved forward without hesitation.

"Oh no! It's really Gan Ning! We've fallen into a trap!" Seeing that the enemy had such a brave and fierce general, and his fighting style was flamboyant, fierce and unrestrained, many knowledgeable officers in Cao's army quickly confirmed the enemy's identity and were frightened.

As the middle-level officers began to waver and their own people shouted to confirm, the ignorant soldiers below were naturally confused and frightened and just wanted to flee in all directions.

"How could Gan Ning be here? This is impossible! Didn't General Cai say that he had used a trick to get rid of Gan Ning?!" The person in charge of leading this Cao army tonight was Wu Ba, a fierce general under Li Tong. He had access to the decision-making process of Li Tong and Cai Yang, and naturally knew what was written in Cai Yang's letter. At this moment, he naturally cursed Cai Yang's unreliability countless times in his heart.

Wu Ba was once the leader of the Yellow Turban Army of Runan a dozen years ago. Later, Li Tong became more powerful and annexed the forces of Zhou Zhi and Chen Gong. He gathered all the armies to hunt down the remaining Yellow Turban Army of Runan and forced Wu Ba to surrender. From then on, Wu Ba was convinced by Li Tong and followed him.

Six years ago, when Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu defeated Cao Cao in Wancheng using Jia Xu's strategy, Cao Cao fled back to Xudu (the time when he killed three fresh fish in one shot), Zhang Xiu kept chasing him. In the end, it was Li Tong who led Wu Ba to stop the attack and stopped Zhang Xiu's offensive. It can be seen that Wu Ba is also quite capable.

As a county governor, Li Tong would certainly not take the risk of leading a surprise attack force out of the city himself, so he handed over full authority to Wu Ba to lead the troops tonight.

Now that things have come to this, it is useless for Wu Ba to regret.

He originally thought about withdrawing his troops back to the city, but Gan Ning's attack behind him was too fierce and too determined, and his cavalry wedge formation was heading straight for the city gate.

Li Tong, who was standing on the top of the city, saw that the situation was not good and immediately made up his mind to cut off his own arm. He personally supervised the battle and ordered: "Release the thousand-jin gate immediately!"

The commander of the North Tower trembled in his heart and reminded: "Captain Wu is still outside!"

Li Tong glared and gritted his teeth: "If Gan Ning rushes in, we will all die! If you don't let me go, I will kill you first!"

The commander on the city wall shuddered, but still decisively ordered someone to use an axe to cut the noose of the gate.

There were originally dozens of fleeing soldiers running back crowded in the city gate, but they were smashed into meat paste by their own gates. Most of them just groaned and didn't even have the chance to scream.

Only a few who rushed in particularly fast were cut in half by the gate, and they did not die for a while, and their screams like slaughtered pigs resounded throughout the tower. There were also a few who rushed in particularly slowly, and when they saw the gate falling, they turned around and tried to dodge it at the moment of life and death, but only had one leg cut off, and they did not die, and their screams were like those in the Asura Hell.

Gan Ning was less than a hundred steps away from the city gate when he heard loud cries of grief in front of him. He knew that the defenders had opened the gate to save their own men, so he could only vent his anger on the abandoned Cao army soldiers.

"Li Tong is a coward! I only regret that he didn't lead the troops here in person!"

When the remaining Cao troops saw that they were abandoned, their morale completely collapsed. Everyone fled in all directions and did not put up any more resistance.

Liu Bei's infantry ran and chased bravely on their own two legs, trying to expand the victory and get more heads. Unfortunately, Cao's soldiers threw away their armor and fled lightly, while most of Liu Bei's soldiers had intact armor and could not outrun the enemy at all, and could only watch many Cao's soldiers flee.

Only the cavalry under Gan Ning were enjoying themselves. The enemy did not put up any resistance and just ran around like headless flies. But even if they were running wildly with light equipment and bare hands, how could their two legs outrun the cavalry?

The unarmored light infantry were stabbed in the back by the iron cavalry. This BUFF had been completely stacked. Groups of fleeing soldiers were pierced and cut by the iron cavalry and killed like a string of candied haws.

Gan Ning himself was too disdainful to chase after those infantrymen, but fortunately, the sky was getting slightly brighter, so Gan Ning could clearly see where the enemy cavalry were fleeing in front of him. He just picked out the enemies on horseback and killed them.

Soon, they caught up with Wu Ba's group. Unfortunately, Wu Ba's troops had already collapsed, with only a few dozen cavalry guards left. When Gan Ning's troops caught up with them, they were like embers in a charcoal basin being hit by the waves.

Wu Ba had no chance to turn around and fight. Seeing that he was running away, Gan Ning fired a series of arrows at Wu Ba from his horse's back from a distance of dozens of steps. It was not easy to hit him on the bumpy horse's back, but Gan Ning had plenty of time. He shot five or six arrows in succession, and finally one arrow was deflected and another arrow hit a weak spot in the armor.

Wu Ba screamed, stumbled and fell off his horse. He was caught up by Gan Ning's men, who could not stop him and trampled him to death.

In the end, Gan Ning captured a few enemy cavalrymen alive and found out the identity of Wu Ba and the corpse that had been trampled beyond recognition.

The thousands of Cao troops led out of the city by Wu Ba were all wiped out outside the city, except for a few hundred deserters who escaped before the gates fell. About two thousand were killed or wounded, and the rest all knelt down and surrendered in despair.

……

Gan Ning killed Wu Ba and wiped out Li Tong's troops that were leaving the city. He finished all this just after half of the fifth watch.

Then, without resting, he rode non-stop around the west side of the camp and rushed to the main battlefield on the north side of the camp where Liu Bei and Cai Yang were fighting.

Because Cai Yang was in the north and Li Tong was in the south, separated by Liu Bei's camp, he only heard loud shouting and killing in the south and chaos behind Liu Bei's camp, and he had no idea how the battle was progressing.

Cai Yang thought that Li Tong was also fighting with all his might, so he certainly didn't dare to abandon him. So even though the frontal assault was very difficult and gradually fell into a quagmire, with heavy casualties, he had to grit his teeth and hold on. Several times his generals came to him with blood on their faces to beg for mercy, but he just told them to grit their teeth and said he would send out the reserve troops to charge.

Finally, seeing that the morale of the army was in danger, Cai Yang had to personally charge into the front line, braving the arrows and stones. He did break through the wall of Liu Bei's camp at one point, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Liu Bei's troops in the camp.

He was also shaken in his heart, and wondered if all this was a trap set by Liu Bei? Was it intentional to let him see a glimmer of hope so that he would not let go and end up losing more and more?
Just when Cai Yang was feeling helpless and depressed, Gan Ning finally rushed to the main battlefield on the northern front, taking advantage of the great victory of killing Wu Ba and wiping out all the enemies on the southern front.

"Cai Yang, you bastard! Gan Ning is here! I will personally send you to reunite with Qin Qi and Wu Ba today! When you get to the Lord of Mount Tai, you don't have to thank me!"

As Gan Ning's troops appeared and fully engaged in the battle, the battle situation on the northern line of the Beimen Camp naturally turned into a one-sided avalanche.

As the cavalry charged, Gan Ning's cavalry shouted, "Here is Wu Ba's head! Li Tong's troops have been annihilated!"

When Cai Yang's soldiers heard the news, their morale plummeted. Some of the timid ones simply turned around and ran away, completely ignoring the battle line and the situation.

Those who shouted that Wu Ba was dead were relatively conscientious. Some of the braver and smarter ones even shouted shamelessly:
"Li Tong is dead! Yiyang has been conquered!"

"Li Tong, a poor fellow, personally led his troops to attack from both sides, but he fell into the trap set by the military advisor and was beheaded!"

In the midst of the panic, could Cai Yang's subordinates still verify whether it was Wu Ba or Li Tong who died? Impossible.

Cai Yang's troops collapsed and dispersed at a speed visible to the naked eye. The soldiers who had already entered Liu Bei's camp and were being minced were unable to escape and could only kneel down and surrender.

Those who had not yet entered the outer rear army immediately scattered, and were then stabbed in the back by Gan Ning's cavalry again, cutting through them. Those who were cut off and surrounded surrendered without hesitation.

Only those stragglers on the periphery who were not surrounded were able to escape.

As the battle situation was tense, Cai Yang himself had already led the reserve troops into Liu Bei's camp. Now he was stuck in a quagmire and had no time to retreat.

At this point, he knew that he had absolutely no chance of survival today and would die here.

Liu Bei's flag was too far away in the chaotic army, and they could not kill their way through. Even if they tried to risk their lives to exchange it for a few more, they could not.

At this time, Gan Ning attacked from behind and cut off his retreat. When Cai Yang saw Gan Ning's flag, he thought of many of his old brothers, including Qin Qi, who had died at the hands of Gan Ning. This aroused his final ferocity, and he wanted to find someone to take the blame before he died to avenge his personal grudge.

Cai Yang turned his horse and charged forward, heading straight towards Gan Ning. The last cavalrymen beside him also charged forward like a tit-for-tat.

Seeing that he was coming at him aggressively and exuding a dangerous aura from afar, Gan Ning became cautious. He concentrated and clenched the halberd handle tightly, and his palms were slightly sweaty. Fortunately, the rope wrapped around the handle was very absorbent and did not slip.

"Gan Ning, you bastard! I will not let you go even if I become a ghost!" After killing two or three cavalrymen of Liu Bei's army who were blocking his way, Cai Yang came in front of Gan Ning, poured all his strength into it, swung his sword and chopped at Gan Ning fiercely.

Gan Ning had also just killed two of Cai Yang's personal soldiers and was now charging into battle with his halberd in hand.

He originally thought that this halberd could block Cai Yang's broadsword, and then take advantage of the opportunity that the opponent's weapon was heavy and his moves were old, leaving the goal wide open, to counterattack.

As soon as the two sides fought, Gan Ning felt that the opponent's sword not only had a huge force, but also a strong wind blowing in his face. He had clearly blocked it, but Cai Yang raised his back hand and pushed it forward, and the sword still turned at an incredible angle and continued to cut closer.

Gan Ning's pupils shrank sharply. He didn't expect Cai Yang to abandon his sword in his first move, and tried to rely on inertia to let the sword circle around the halberd to cut the enemy. Gan Ning was also shocked and broke into a cold sweat. He quickly shook the halberd and tried to shake the sword that Cai Yang had already let go of, causing it to tilt half a circle.

In this way, although the knife's force was so strong that it could not be stopped, when it landed on Gan Ning's shoulder, it had already changed from the blade facing down to the blade facing down. Gan Ning was only hit hard on the shoulder by the heavy weapon, and with the iron armor protecting him, he only suffered some internal injuries, and could not be cut in.

Gan Ning was, after all, an expert at using an iron halberd, and halberd experts were best at turning the weapon's shaft to kill the enemy while attacking, because the halberd's horizontal blade was lethal in only one direction and needed to be adjusted from time to time to ensure that they could defeat the enemy.

Therefore, Gan Ning also had a deep understanding of how to control the opponent's weapon pole to rotate and deflect in a split second. Even Zhao Yun might not be able to catch up with him in this regard, after all, Zhao Yun did not use an iron halberd, and the spear did not need to rotate the pole to change moves. It can be said that after the death of Lu Bu and Dian Wei, Gan Ning and Taishi Ci were already the top masters in this field.

Although Cai Yang's desperate attack hit Gan Ning's shoulder hard and caused internal injuries, he also lost his weapon and could only quickly draw his sword and fight again.

Gan Ning easily defeated Cai Yang, who only had a short weapon, even though one arm was slightly inconvenient. After five or six fierce battles, Gan Ning endured the severe pain in his shoulder and stabbed Cai Yang's neck with the twig of the iron halberd, severing his carotid artery.

Cai Yang gushed blood and was finally beheaded by Gan Ning.

Gan Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had fought a series of bloody battles today and was a little exhausted. He was hit hard by the back of the knife and suffered a hidden injury. As his tense nerves gradually relaxed, he finally could not hold on any longer.

Fortunately, Liu Bei's army had won a great victory at this moment, and Cai Yang had been killed, so minor injuries would not affect the battle situation.

Liu Bei, who had been supervising the battle in the camp, took decisively and personally took over the command and deployment of the pursuit after learning that Gan Ning was slightly injured. He completed the mopping-up work and defeated Cai Yang's troops.

All those who could be captured were captured, and Liu Bei also divided his troops to search for the fleeing enemy soldiers. It took a full day or two to expand the results of the battle and clean up the battlefield.

After this battle, Cai Yang and Wu Ba caused the Cao army to lose at least 10,000 soldiers.

The external aid of Yiyang City was completely defeated, and the garrison troops that originally stayed in the city were also at least half killed and seriously injured. Although the city was not captured in the chaos, it was obvious that Li Tong could not hold on for much longer.

(End of this chapter)