My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 458 Don't Give Gongsun Du a Chance
As Liu Yi was knocked down and trampled by his own defeated soldiers and died in the chaos, the outcome of this brutal battle on the seashore east of Tuhe County was completely decided.

Although it was impossible for the 50,000 troops sent by Gongsun Du to attack to be completely destroyed, at least more than half of them were killed - mainly the part of the troops led by Yang Yi that marched by sea, because they were all on plank boats, and it was impossible for Zhao Yun to fly to the sea and kill them all.

No matter how well and fiercely Zhao Yun fought on land, the best he could do was to completely annihilate the 20,000 or 30,000 men directly under Liu Yi.

The actual results will only be 70% to 80% lower than this ideal state.

At least several thousand defeated soldiers under Liu Yi's command chose to flee directly when they found that the situation was not right, and they were able to retreat to the Liaosui camp in the chaos.

There were also several thousand people who chose to swim in the sea when they were driven into the sea. More than half of them were able to be picked up by Yangyi's plank-house fleet.

However, in such a cold environment in late November of the lunar calendar, jumping into the sea and swimming hundreds of steps before getting back on the boat would probably cause people with weak constitutions to get sick from the cold.

Therefore, even if these soldiers escaped, their combat effectiveness would be temporarily reduced in a short period of time. It is estimated that they would need to recuperate for ten days or half a month before they could return to the battle, and they would not be able to pose a threat to Liu Bei's army for a while.

Zhao Yun was also looking forward to a miracle on the battlefield: for example, while he was trying his best to defeat Liu Yi, it would be great if Zhou Yu's warship fleet could sail to the sea off Tuhe County and intercept and annihilate Yang Yi's plank boat navy.

Unfortunately, this ideal state can only appear in fantasy and cannot be realized.

Zhou Yu and Zhao Yun were separated by hundreds of miles, and the vast sea made it impossible to maintain real-time communication. Who could expect the reinforcements to arrive so coincidentally and in such a timely manner? A day or a half earlier or a day or two later was the norm for communication conditions in this era.

Even if God favors Liu Bei's camp, it is impossible to go against the laws of nature.

……

The Battle of Tuhe started at 3 p.m., and it took Zhao Yun an hour to break the deadlock, and he finally defeated Liu Yi at dark.

It took another hour to expand the battle and chase the escaped soldiers to the north. In the end, it was too late and it was difficult to see where the large group of escaped soldiers were going, so the pursuit and capture of prisoners had to come to a temporary halt.

Two hours of continuous fighting and running naturally made the soldiers quite tired.

Fortunately, there were always spoils of war on the battlefield, and there was plenty of ready-made dry food. The soldiers moved a little, sat down by the sea, ate their dry food and dried meat, and lit a few fires to rest for a while.

Tian Chou, who was in the rear camp, learned of Zhao Yun's victory just after dark. He hurriedly took a team of logistics support soldiers, loaded the freshly cooked meat and hot soup in the camp into leather bags and transported them to the front line to reward the troops and celebrate the victory.

Some other civil servants in the camp, such as Zhao Yun's chief secretary and chief clerk, thought it was unnecessary. After Zhao Yun won the battle, he should return to the camp in triumph. Wouldn't it be wonderful to celebrate with wine and meat? Why did they have to cook it specially and send it to the front line?

But as a soldier, Tian Chou insisted on doing so, and it was not convenient for others to deliberately obstruct him.

Zhao Yun was sitting around the campfire. When he saw Tian Chou coming to comfort him with wine and meat, he smiled knowingly. It seemed that Tian Zita was able to keep up with his pace.

He took the leather bag, drank a few big gulps of the warm wine, and tore off a piece of lamb leg, and chatted with Tian Chou while eating.

Tian Chou took the initiative to ask: "General, you have won such a great victory, but you don't return to the camp. Do you plan to expand the victory tomorrow morning? Do you want to continue the pursuit after dawn and capture more prisoners?
I also thought of this, and when I heard the news of Liu Yi's defeat, I immediately sent people to bring wine and meat to comfort the army. If the general has any follow-up plans, I will lead the injured and exhausted soldiers back to the camp to rest, or set up a simple camp here.

I also brought some felt cloth from the old camp, so the soldiers won't get frostbitten if they spend the night here, but it's hard to set up the camp fence in such a hurry."

Zhao Yun swallowed the meat and patted Tian Chou on the shoulder. "You know a lot about military affairs. You think the same as I do. This place is more than 30 miles east of the old camp. I don't want to go back to the camp just for this reason. I don't want to go back and walk so much more.

However, I don't want to expand the victory tomorrow. For now, let the soldiers rest for half the night to relieve the fatigue of the fierce battle. In the second half of the night, we will get up and march, and try to walk 70 miles by dawn and head straight to the Liaosui camp!"

Tian Chou was shocked when he heard this. He originally thought that Zhao Yun was reluctant to leave after his victory and was unwilling to return, probably because he wanted to capture more defeated soldiers of Liu Yi's army tomorrow.

Or maybe he wanted to contact Zhou Yu and then attack from both land and sea to intercept Yang Yi's plank boat navy and destroy them at sea.

This is not impossible. Zhao Yun only needs to keep an eye on Yang Yi and prevent him from landing. If he dares to land, he can attack him while he is still halfway across the sea. Then Yang Yi will have to hesitate on the sea. When Zhou Yu arrives, it will not be difficult for him to chase Yang Yi and completely devour him with his strength.

In any case, the maneuvering speed of a warship is definitely not as fast as that of a warhorse. Zhao Yun can definitely keep up with the enemy's movement along the coast to block the enemy from landing.

However, Zhao Yun's final decision was much bolder than Tian Chou had expected.

Zhao Yun actually abandoned the Yangyi navy, which was said to have tens of thousands of troops, and wanted to attack Gongsun Du's Liaosui camp directly. How bold was he?

Tian Chou was shocked, and his expression showed it naturally. Zhao Yun saw his worry, and then he comforted him calmly: "Don't worry, I never fight a battle without confidence. The reason why I had this thought just now was naturally because many of Liu Yi's generals and Qu Chang were captured and forced to surrender on the battlefield.

From these surrendered generals and captives, I have fully understood the strength of Gongsun Du's army - Gongsun Du was destined to be defeated, and the army he sent to garrison Liaosui this time was only 60,000. Hearing that I was going to attack Tuhe County and seize Lianggang to support Gongjin, Gongsun Du actually made a desperate move and sent 50,000 troops to destroy me with an absolute advantage in force.

At present, the enemy's land and sea forces have completely collapsed, and a small half of the total force has been lost. Yangyi's naval forces should have 30,000 men left. But there are only 10,000 men in the Liaosui camp. It is said that Gongsun Du himself is also unwell, so he did not go with the army, but stayed in the camp.

"When I attack Liaosui Camp, the number of enemy troops I need to face is only one-third of that of Yangyi. Yangyi's plank boats sail slowly, and even if we retreat overnight, we may not be able to return to Liaosui Camp tomorrow morning. Our army is cavalry, so as long as we repair and restore our horsepower, it is not impossible for us to arrive first after starting late!"

After hearing the details of the plan, Tian Chou had to admit that Zhao Yun had ambitious plans, but in theory the chances of success were indeed not small.

The number of defenders in the Liaosui camp was still greater than that of Zhao Yun's cavalry. However, since the enemy army had just launched an attack, the people left behind must have felt that their side was stable and were prone to relax.

Even if some of Liu Yi's scattered cavalry fled back before Zhao Yun arrived and told the bad news, so that the defenders would stop being relaxed and stay alert, the bad news of the defeat would certainly deal a heavy blow to the morale of the defenders. If Zhao Yun suddenly appeared again, Gongsun Du would most likely lose the will to fight.

Therefore, regardless of whether the enemy knew the bad news of defeat at the front, their morale and fighting spirit would not be high.

After understanding these principles, Tian Chou stopped trying to stop Zhao Yun and just bowed solemnly:

"In that case, I wish you another great feat. Please rest here for a while. There are spare horses in the rear camp to replace you. When the time comes, you can reduce the armor of your elite troops and advance quickly with light equipment. You should be able to catch the enemy off guard."

After saying this, he did not disturb Zhao Yun from resting.

Zhao Yun asked Tian Chou to help him organize the troops. The casualties in today's battle were not negligible, especially in the initial stage of charging with bows and crossbows, where many soldiers were injured. These wounded soldiers and soldiers who were exhausted could not participate in subsequent battles.

As the number of soldiers is reduced, some war horses can be freed up, allowing the remaining raiding troops in good condition to maintain two horses per person. The insufficient part can also be urgently transferred from the rear camp.

Finally, Zhao Yun rested for two hours at the seashore east of the battlefield to make sure his energy was roughly restored, the additional war horses were in place, and the injuries were properly taken care of. Then he led another 6,000 cavalrymen and continued to gallop eastward.

In yesterday's battle, he sent out 9,000 soldiers, and now he only brought 6,000 when he continued to attack the camp. The difference was due to casualties and those who were in poor condition and needed to stay behind.

Fortunately, quality is more important than quantity. With this intensity of combat, forcing soldiers who are not in good condition to fight will only cause trouble.

Zhao Yun set out after midnight and traveled hard all the way. Before dawn, he had traveled sixty miles and approached the Liao River.

Zhao Yun did not dare to stop. He first found a shallow beach with dry water and ice, and waded across the Liaohe River. Then he reorganized his troops on the east bank and took a rest for half an hour to relax and recuperate during the last time before dawn.

With the war approaching, it is necessary to maintain good physical strength and condition. It can be a bit hard when traveling, but on the eve of the final charge, you must conserve your energy a little, drink wine, eat meat and muster up your strength.

Even each war horse had to replenish a bag of red beans and two eggs before charging into the battle, digest and rest for half an hour, and then charge again.

As they chased along the way, they kept encountering the remnants of Gongsun Du's army that had collapsed the day before. They advanced among the chaotic army and were not targeted by the scout search teams outside the Liaosui camp.

Sometimes, if they were unlucky enough to encounter him head-on, they would just push forward and kill him. Even if a few of them escaped and Gongsun Du learned of Zhao Yun's attack, he would not have time to make an effective response.

At daybreak, Zhao Yun's troops regained their strength and mounted their horses again, heading south towards the Liaosui camp for the final raid of a dozen miles.

"Kill! Capture Gongsun Du alive! Pacify all of Liaodong!"

"Liu Yi and Yang Yi have been completely wiped out. One hundred thousand soldiers from the imperial court are coming over the sea. Those who surrender will not be killed!"

Zhao Yun's army shouted all kinds of slogans to do their best to undermine the enemy's morale and disrupt the enemy's hearts. They first used grappling hooks to overturn the chevaux de frise and pull out the antlers of deer, and then rushed into the camp in a hurry.

"Oh no! My lord, Zhao Yun destroyed General Liu and General Yang in one day, and personally led 100,000 cavalrymen to counterattack our main camp!"

"What? This is impossible!" Gongsun Du felt a rush of blood to his head. He was already seriously ill and was frightened by this, just like Sima Shi in history who was frightened by Wen Yang on his deathbed.

Gongsun Du couldn't catch his breath and fainted.

(End of this chapter)