My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 553 Take advantage of his illness and kill him

Seeing Wang Ping's Bandun Man mountain soldiers suddenly rushing out from the hillside beside the road, the soldiers of Cao's transport team were immediately horrified.
The Cao soldiers carrying loaded loads looked blankly towards the south slope, and saw thousands of enemies rushing down the steep slope and dense forest as agile as monkeys.

At the same time, countless archers hiding in the dark were madly shooting arrows at the valley. The most outrageous thing was that quite a few of them even used poison arrows that the Brazilian barbarians were accustomed to using!
Fortunately, the poison technology of this era was not very powerful, and the poison arrows did not take effect instantly to make people lose their combat effectiveness, so Cao's army did not collapse immediately.

"Where did the ambush come from?"

"Didn't General Pang search the entire valley repeatedly before he marched forward?"

"Could it be that the enemy troops from Hechi County have left the city to rob food? But isn't Hechi County surrounded by General Xu?"

Several difficult questions suddenly popped up in the minds of the Cao army escort officers, but unfortunately they no longer had the time and opportunity to verify them.

The surprise attack was carried out by the 4,000 Bantun Man mountain soldiers led by Wang Ping! They had quietly left Hechi County long before Wei Yan was besieged by Pang De, bringing enough dry food with them, and lurking in the mountainous area southeast of Hechi County, ready to support Wei Yan.

Wang Ping's troops were very good at mountain warfare and were familiar with the terrain. In addition, they had supplies such as bricks, compressed biscuits, dried fish, canned food, etc. specially provided to them by Zhuge Liang. Wang Ping led his troops to lurk in the mountains for ten days or so in the summer without any pressure at all.

In contrast, Cao's army did not have the ability to stay in the mountains of Hanzhong for a long time in the summer. This was not only a problem of climbing mountains, but also a problem of climate adaptability.

Cao Cao's Bingzhou soldiers also lived in the Taihang and Luliang mountainous areas, and had certain climbing and off-road capabilities. However, in the northern mountainous areas north of the Qinling Mountains, there were not too many mosquitoes, poisonous insects, and miasma in the summer.

The mountainous areas south of the Qinling Mountains are far hotter and humider in summer than in the north, because the Qinling Mountains block the northward movement of moisture. Even if Cao Cao sent soldiers from Bingzhou here, they could not withstand the harsh environment in the forest and would inevitably fall ill on a large scale.

Under such circumstances, how could Cao's army have imagined and guarded against the fact that Liu Bei's army could have hidden an ambush in the mountains and forests for such a long time?
Wang Ping caught the enemy off guard. In addition, his troops were more numerous than Cao's baggage train, and a considerable number of Cao's troops were transport soldiers, so the entire battle process was a foregone conclusion.

Wang Ping was like a tiger descending from the mountain, wielding two swords and fighting in the front, chopping down anyone he saw.

The Bantun barbarians under his command also fought bravely, using their flexible swords and shields and axes and shields to fight hand-to-hand, and soon killed the clumsy and slow Cao army, which could not take care of the front and rear, and cut them into several sections.

The Cao army general who was escorting the supplies was just an unknown captain. Under Wang Ping's fierce attack, he was soon shot by arrows and poison arrows, and was almost dying. Wang Ping rushed to him and cut off the other's head with an easy attitude that could almost be said to be picking up a head.

The remaining soldiers of Cao's army lost their morale upon seeing this, and soon they completely collapsed.

Wang Ping ended the battle easily, and ordered in high spirits: "Restock the arrows and rations, replace the weapons that can be used, and burn the rest that cannot be carried!"

……

The news that Wang Ping had successfully attacked Xu Huang's supply team that was transporting supplies to Pang De reached Pang De's ears just a few hours later.

Pang De was shocked when he heard this. He didn't expect that he had been advancing all the way along the valley so cautiously, but he was still infiltrated by the enemy's surprise attack troops and his food supply was cut off.

"This is impossible! Where did these enemies who attacked the grain route come from? Did Xu Gongming not properly surround Hechi County, and Wei Yan sent people to sneak out of the city?" Pang De's first reaction was anger, thinking that the friendly forces were not doing their job well.

However, this is obviously not the most important thing at the moment.

Liang Xing, the deputy general, quickly reminded Pang De: "General, the most urgent thing right now is to think about how to deal with the burning and looting of our military supplies. If this news gets out, I'm afraid the morale of the army will become even more unstable!"

Pang De immediately retorted: "Of course it can't be spread! Our army's rations haven't been eaten yet, and we are not short of arrows. Let's keep this secret for as long as possible, and I will find a way to remedy the situation! Anyone who spreads what I heard today will be charged with disturbing the morale of the army and punished by military law!"

However, just as Pound announced the blockade of these news that were detrimental to the morale of the army, the enemy soon took action.

A lieutenant quickly ran into the central army tent and reported in a hurry: "General! Over at Wu Yi's camp, an enemy general led his troops to challenge us. The enemy soldiers shouted and cursed, saying that the general's food supply... the food supply has been cut off, and we will surely be defeated. If you don't want to die, you should withdraw your troops immediately."

Pang De's pupils shrank violently several times, and his face showed a ferocious look: "Challenge? Wu Yi dares to challenge? He has been beaten by me for four days, and he actually has the guts to do this? I wish for it!"

As Pang De said this, he was about to put on his armor, pick up his sword, mount his horse and go into battle.

But the lieutenant who delivered the message was frightened and quickly added: "General! It's not Wu Yi who is challenging us, it's Zhang Fei who is coming!"

"Zhang Fei?!" Pang De's originally angry and arrogant mood soon calmed down.

He was not afraid of Zhang Fei. Pang De was not afraid of anyone. As long as he could step on the opponent to become famous, he would dare to fight anyone.

In history, he dared to fight against Guan Yu, let alone Zhang Fei who had just avenged his humiliation only half a year ago.

Pang De just thought that Zhang Fei would suddenly appear from Wu Yi's camp, and he had not found out that the enemy had any reinforcements in the past few days. Could it be that there was some conspiracy against him? Could it be that Zhang Fei's troops had been hiding in Wu Yi's camp in advance? They had been kept as a reserve force and not brought out?

Moreover, he soon thought of another question: How did Zhang Fei know so quickly that his food supply was intercepted? He had just received the report of the defeated soldiers who had escaped, and these defeated soldiers had escaped back through the valley road.

It was obvious that Liu Bei's army, which was carrying out the grain-robbery mission, could not have taken the main road in the valley, otherwise they would have been hit by him long ago. Doesn't this mean that the enemy's grain-robbery team could travel faster than his own troops taking the main road by crossing mountains and taking a long detour?

how did you do that? !

"No matter what, we must not back down now. Otherwise, Zhang Fei will continue to spread rumors, saying that our army's food supply has been cut off. When the soldiers see that I am not going to fight, then even if Zhang Fei's lies are true, they will become true."

After thinking it over again and again, Pound finally figured out the truth, and then he was too lazy to analyze whether the enemy had more conspiracies.

He knew he had no choice. The only chance to break the impasse was to defeat Zhang Fei and regain his authority.

"Get your armor on! Get your horses ready! Bring me my sword! Line up your entire army and follow me to fight Zhang Fei!" Pang De gritted his teeth and gave the order for a decisive battle.

Cao's army quickly took action, and they lined up with their weapons in hand.

After three drum beats, the camp gate was opened. Pang De was the first to rush out of the camp, standing on his horse with his sword drawn, to fight Zhang Fei.

……

"Zhang Fei, you bastard! Xiliang General Pang De is here! I have been attacking Wu Yi's camp for several days, but you are like turtles who are afraid to fight.

Today you finally dare to show your cowardly head, but God is helping me! I will kill you first as a sacrifice, and then use your power to destroy Wu Yi's camp!"

Pang De went out of the camp and formed a battle line. The two camps faced each other. He pulled the reins, and the warhorse neighed and stood up. Pang De sat firmly on the saddle, and waited for the horse's hooves to put down again before swinging his sword in circles, making a whirring sound and cursing loudly.

The Zhang Fei troops on the opposite side actually had only 6,000 to 7,000 elite veteran soldiers, and there were another 10,000 to 20,000 people following them, all of whom were Wu Yi's newly surrendered Yizhou soldiers. Wu Yi's camp could not accommodate too many people. If more of Zhang Fei's troops were forced to stay, the enemy would inevitably see through their flaws and they would not be able to accommodate them.

Therefore, before this battle, at least 70% of the troops in the camp were local soldiers from Yizhou, who had only slightly changed their equipment and upgraded. Zhang Fei's direct troops only existed as a strategic reserve and had not taken any action in the previous few days of the war of attrition.

Facing Pang De's scolding, Zhang Fei was eager to try and was very excited. Instead of feeling angry, he did not feel angry at all. Zhang Fei would only become impotent and furious when an enemy of equal strength or an enemy stronger than himself insulted him.

Therefore, in history, Zhang Fei reacted so strongly when faced with Lu Bu's insults or Ma Chao's challenges and insults.

At this moment, facing Pang De, all Zhang Fei was thinking was: This guy is cursing so wildly now, I will just kill him with a spear soon, why bother arguing with him.

He just listened quietly to Pang De's scolding, and then shouted in a calm but loud voice: "Pang De, you bastard! You dared to advance here without conquering Hechi County. From that day on, your death was doomed!

"Xiliang soldiers on the other side, your food supply has been cut off by Wang Ping. How long can the military supplies last? Ma Chao pointed out a way for you to survive, but you insisted on listening to Pang De. If you come to die again, you will be asking for God's punishment! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

After Zhang Fei finished his curse, he turned to Pang De and said, "Pang De, do you dare to fight me? I am not afraid to tell you that Ma Dai has fled to Jiameng Pass to join my lord and is now in my camp.

As long as I kill you, these Xiliang soldiers will surrender without fighting! When the time comes, I will let Ma Dai come out for a walk, and I believe they will surrender faster than in Chang'an City!"

When Pang De first left the camp, he was quite courageous and wanted to take advantage of the big opportunity.

However, Pang De had already lost his courage when he heard Zhang Fei showing off his power in battle, and every word he said hit his soft spot, even though he was telling the truth.

At this moment, Zhang Fei revealed his worry, and he was worried that Ma Dai was really in the opposite camp. If that was the case, if he died in the battle, these Xiliang troops would probably surrender again.

How could he know that Zhang Fei was also tricking him, and Ma Dai and Ma Chao were not here at all.

But Pang De's hesitation was noticed by the Xiliang army. Seeing that the usually arrogant General Pang was suppressed by the fierce general with round eyes and curly beard, the morale of the whole army became even lower, and they all felt that they had really fallen into a trap.

Zhang Fei showed a ferocious expression, shouted loudly, raised his snake spear and led the way to attack Pang De.

The cavalrymen around Zhang Fei also started to charge.

Zhang Fei didn't care whether Pang De agreed to fight or not. Anyway, at this moment, the two opposing forces and the generals were the first to go out to answer. If they didn't agree to fight, they could quickly kill the opponent by fighting in groups.

Pang De's hesitation undermined the morale of Cao's army, and it was just the right time to take advantage of his illness to kill him!
(End of this chapter)