My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 451: Killing the chicken to scare the monkey, being able to control
"I must have wasted too much energy on a woman's belly last night..."

As Su Puyan felt his whole body enveloped by coldness and his strength gradually drained away, and he finally fell exhausted from the horse's back, this last thought flashed through his mind.

As a hero with a relatively good reputation on the grassland, he was unwilling to believe until his death that his martial arts had been abandoned to the point where he was shot in the arm by Zhao Yun from a distance and then killed instantly by a close-range gunshot.

Fortunately, he had just released his animal desires on two slaves last night, which gave him an excuse for his inability and allowed him to die without regrets.

On the other side, Zhao Yun, without waiting for Su Puyan's brain to completely lose consciousness, quickly handed the gun to his left hand, freed his right hand to draw out the sword, first picked up the helmet on Fei Su Puyan's body, and neatly cut off his head.

Then he continued to hold the sword tightly with three fingers of his right hand, and used his ring finger and little finger to grab his hair in mid-air, swinging it a few times like a yo-yo, making sure that the hair was wrapped around the hilt and wrist and would not fall off.

The movements seem complicated, but in fact they are done in one go and are extremely smooth.

"Su Puyan has surrendered! Those who surrender will not be killed! Only the main culprit will be executed! The rest will not be questioned!" Zhao Yun waved the sword in his hand and continued to resist the red-eyed Su Puyan's personal guards nearby, shouting loudly to undermine the morale of the Wuhuan people.

Su Puyan had just died, and the personal guards and attendants around him were all his loyal descendants, some of whom were even nephews and nephews of the family. Their resentment for revenge had not yet been vented, and they all rushed towards Zhao Yun and other Han soldiers fearlessly.

Zhao Yun naturally did not dare to relax and led his troops to continue the final bloody battle with these guards. He knew very well that he had to withstand this wave of desperate hatred and counterattack, and completely annihilate these guys, in order to truly win this battle.

After all, this is a war between the Hu and Han peoples, not ours. It is hard to be like the civil war among the Han people, where the people around them immediately collapsed as soon as the commander died, and they would not care who they worked for.

Zhao Yun held a spear in one hand and a sword in the other, and he wielded both the spear and the sword. Wherever he swung his swords, clothes and armor were flattened, and blood gushed out like a fountain. He also personally killed more than a dozen Wuhuan guards, and the remaining enemies' ferocity was completely suppressed and extinguished.

The hair from Subuyan's head was wrapped around the hilt and wrist of his sword, and when he swung his sword, it flew around like a sword tassel. In the chaos of the battle, he also took the opportunity to hit two Wuhuan cavalrymen a few times.

The Han cavalrymen around Zhao Yun also shouted loudly in the fierce battle, with swords flying everywhere. After they fought hard to repel this wave of enemies, the news of Su Puyan's death finally spread completely.

The enemy cavalry that were rushing to reinforce from the upstream and downstream directions of the Wuliao River were also completely shaken. Some of the weak-willed Hu soldiers fled one after another, unwilling to fight to the death in vain.

There were also groups of Wuhuan cavalry who were already caught in a tough battle or were cut off by the wedge formation of the Han cavalry. They were surrounded by enemies in front and behind, and did not know where to escape if they wanted to.

To the south was the direction from which the Han army was attacking, and to the north was the Wuliao River. In October, the river had not yet completely frozen, and it was impossible to escape by wading across the river. They had no choice but to dismount and surrender and beg for mercy.

It is like a Changshan snake. When it is attacked at its vital point, its head and tail will quickly circle around to provide reinforcement.

But before the reinforcements arrived, the vital point had been completely cut off, and the head and tail of the Changshan Snake had been completely drained of strength, causing it to collapse limply.

The only person to blame for all this was Su Puyan himself, who underestimated the enemy's size. In order to pursue them faster, he ignored the fact that his army formation was stretched into a long snake shape and ultimately paid the price.

……

Half an hour later, the battle was completely over. Only sporadic tasks remained, such as chasing fleeing enemies, capturing more prisoners, and cleaning up the spoils on the battlefield.

Zhao Yun stood proudly on the hillside where he had set up an ambush. Su Puyan's head had been handed over to his personal guards, who cleaned it and wrapped it in a torn Su Puyan flag.

Deputy General Zhang Zhuo and Army Officer Tian Chou from upstream also came with two other troops. They also participated in the final stage of the battle to expand the results and captured a lot of prisoners.

As soon as they saw Zhao Yun, Zhang Zhao and Tian Chou immediately dismounted, ran forward, and bowed their hands in congratulations with sincere admiration:
"The general is truly invincible! He is also wise and brave, and his tactics are superb!"

"I have spent more than ten years in the northern border, and I have seen many famous generals who have defeated the Hu people, but I have never seen anyone who can march over such a long distance and win the battle in one go.

The ingenious method of attacking a separate camp and burning the camp to attack the reinforcements in the middle of the night, all kinds of improvisations are truly amazing. "

Tian Chou had always had some grudges against the old generals of Gongsun Zan, because his former master was Liu Yu, and Gongsun Zan killed Liu Yu. Since this battle, serving as Zhao Yun's guide, Tian Chou's grudges have gradually changed. But until this moment, he was completely convinced and no longer had any other thoughts.

With Gongsun Zan's narrow mind, he was unable to fully display the talent of such a famous general.

The General of Chariots and Cavalry was indeed benevolent and magnanimous, able to unite the Han people and support the Han Dynasty, which allowed General Zhao to give full play to his talents.

Zhao Yun took another piece of cloth from the Su Puyan flag and wiped the blood off his sword carefully, saying calmly:
"I just learned it and used it right away. I learned this method of burning every other camp and intercepting the enemy's reinforcements halfway through my training with Ziyu in the past few months. I didn't expect to use it right away."

Zhang Zhuo was not good at tactics and military strategies, so he didn't think much of what he heard.

Tian Chou was attracted by Zhao Yun's description and couldn't help but imagine it. He was fascinated for a moment: "How could the princes have expected that such a strategy could be used in this battle?" Zhao Yun smiled proudly: "Of course it is impossible to expect this - I have learned more than five or six moves from Ziyu in the past few months. I only used this one move. I hope to use more of the others when fighting Gongsun Du."

After hearing this, Tian Chou felt that Zhuge Jin's divine aura had dimmed a little.

It turns out that it is not a one-to-one equal "magic trick", but just a difference guessing game of "you will only get one question in the exam, you guess five or six questions before the exam, and finally you get it right".

But no matter what, even if it is a battle with a large number of questions, a teacher who can predict all the questions correctly is definitely a famous teacher.

After Zhang Zhuo and Tian Chou expressed their feelings, they immediately asked Zhao Yun about his next plan - after all, they had only defeated Su Puyan's main camp, and Su Puyan's army theoretically had 20,000 tents.

The battalion destroyed last night plus the reinforcements that were defeated only add up to about 8,000 tents. In other words, there are still more than 10,000 tents of Supuyan herdsmen, who are currently distributed within a range of nearly 100 miles downstream of the Wuliao River.

Of course, since Su Puyan himself was dead, it was basically impossible for the remaining tribesmen to unite to seek revenge. In theory, Zhao Yun could also take advantage of the enemy's lack of concentration and rush down the river to kill the remaining camps one by one.

But that would cause too much bloodshed and easily unsettle the captured prisoners. If high-pressure tactics were used against the prisoners, it might cause Tadun and Louban to feel uneasy.

Although the Wuhuan in the three counties had divisions and unity, they were all Wuhuan after all, and would not be willing to watch the Wuhuan in Liaoxi being killed so tragically.

Tian Chou pointed out this problem sharply and hoped that Zhao Yun would come up with a decision as soon as possible.

Zhao Yun stroked his beard and thought for a while: "The people of the Su Puyan family must not be let go. They are now mortal enemies. He was killed, and his brothers and cousins were also killed or injured. Moreover, he is the main culprit who attached himself to Gongsun Du and resisted the lord. It is definitely not possible to cut the grass without getting rid of the root.

As for the tribesmen, we must win them over and hope that they will submit to the imperial court. However, I do not want the Wuhuan in Liaoxi to be directly annexed by Tadun or Louban, because if the Wuhuan in the three counties were united, they would be strong and difficult to control in the future.

Zitai is familiar with the various Wuhuan tribes. Is it possible for him to select a suitable candidate from the Supuyan tribe to serve as the new tribal leader, and ensure that they are loyal to the court and can be controlled by us? It would be even better if we could force those captured surrendered soldiers to submit to us on the spot, fight for us, and serve as the vanguard to attack Gongsun Du together. "

After hearing Zhao Yun's request of "this, this, and more", Tian Chou couldn't help but frown.

This requires the other party to be convinced.
We cannot allow the tribes that have already submitted to us to become bigger.
They must also be reformed immediately on the spot and forced to work for the imperial court.

If Tian Chou had learned the economic concepts of later generations, he would definitely jump up and shout: This is simply an "impossible triangle"!

Tian Chou thought for a long time but could not come up with a plan, so he suggested that Zhao Yun take steps: "General Zhao, the situation is not what we expected before the battle. You won too quickly, so I can't think of a way to win over the enemy.

For now, we should divide our forces to encircle them and use brute force to force the remaining camps of the Supuyan army to land. Even if there are more casualties, there is no other way. I will do my best to come up with a countermeasure for you as soon as possible.

However, I think that in order to achieve the first two points, we must give up the last point, that is, "let these Wuhuan people surrender and immediately work for us and serve as pioneers to help us fight Gongsun Du."

At least, we have to change our approach and make some trade-offs to achieve this. Otherwise, the consequences of unstable military morale will be unpredictable. "

Zhao Yun's initial request was also made casually, only considering the efficacy, without considering feasibility. Hearing Tian Chou's solemn refusal, he also accepted the advice and agreed immediately:
"How can everything in the world go as one wishes? What I asked for just now was indeed a bit harsh. Zitai can make his own choices and do what he wants. If you need any cooperation, just tell me. We can discuss it."

Tian Chou heaved a sigh of relief and bowed solemnly, saying, "In this case, I will make the arrangements myself. Fortunately, there are envoys in the army who were sent by Tadun and Louban to deliver cattle and sheep. I will discuss it with them."

Zhao Yun waved his hand, signaling Tian Chou to go and discuss the matter himself.

After a short rest, he redistributed the tasks with Zhang Zhuo, divided the troops into several groups, and continued to advance lightly along the Wuliao River with the heads of generals such as Su Puyan, surrounding and forcing all the remaining camps of Su Puyan to land.

Before leaving, Tian Chou suddenly thought of a plan, so he whispered a few words to Zhao Yun, urging Zhao Yun to take a few envoys from Tadun and Louban with him and follow the troops that were going to encircle and force the landing.

These people are all Wuhuan people. As Wuhuan people themselves, they may have a better effect in persuading them to surrender. After all, surrendering directly to the Han people is more embarrassing, but surrendering to other Wuhuan people is not so embarrassing.

Of course, Tian Chou’s considerations go beyond this. There are other profound meanings that are difficult to elaborate on at the moment.

After hearing Tian Chou's plan, Zhao Yun's eyes lit up for a rare moment and he immediately approved it.

The troops acted quickly, and within the next one or two days, they pursued the enemy to the north, interspersed and divided them, and successfully forced most of the remaining 10,000 troops of the Subuyan tribe to surrender.

Zhao Yun's troops also followed in the direction of Liaodong, advancing more than a hundred miles, getting closer and closer to Gongsun Du's territory.

(End of this chapter)