My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 644: Huang Zhong's Battle at Changban, His Prestige Remains Undiminished

Huang Zhong launched a sharp, resolute and short counterattack, which severely defeated Yu Jin's cavalry troops, leaving countless corpses and forcing them to retreat more than ten miles.

However, the total number of troops under Yu Jin's command was three or four times that of Huang Zhong.

Moreover, the cavalry could attack the camp and come and go like the wind, and if they couldn't win, they could retreat. It was impossible for Huang Zhong's troops guarding the camp to counterattack and annihilate the retreating cavalry.

Therefore, Yu Jin's cavalry was only severely defeated and temporarily lost the strength to fight again. After retreating slightly, they joined the main force of infantry that had just arrived at the battlefield.

Yu Jin also took the opportunity to take a breath and reorganize his troops.

According to the plan he made before the battle, at this moment, the cavalry should have completely torn apart the defense of Zhangxiang Water Fort by taking advantage of the surprise attack. Then the infantry could rush forward, expand the results of the battle, completely encircle and annihilate the enemy here, and completely burn the food and grass that Liu Bei's army had transported and stored for many days.

But now the plan has been abruptly interrupted, and it would be meaningless for the infantry to rush forward hastily.

After thinking quickly, Yu Jin ordered to suspend the attack and let the troops rest and recover. He even considered setting up camp fifteen miles away from Huang Zhong's camp to hold off.

After instructing the troops to rest on the spot and set up camp hastily in the simplest way, Yu Jin was also in a hurry and called together all the generals and staff to urgently discuss changes of tactics.

Yu Jin was very perceptive and took the lead in raising the most pressing issue at the moment: "Choosing to store a large amount of grain in the water fort outside Dangyang City, this was probably Zhuge Jin's trick from the beginning!
Even Huang Zhong was not in the county and was secretly transferred back to Dangyang in advance, which made it difficult for our army to raid the camp. This shows how well prepared the enemy was.

For now, what do you think? Should we continue to attack with infantry, or should we set up camp and slowly hold out, surround a point and attack reinforcements, or should we withdraw immediately? "

At this moment, there were three deputy generals around Yu Jin, namely Shi Huan, He Mao and Wang Mo.

Shi Huan is an old man. When Cao Cao was still Sikong, Shi Huan was an official in Sikong Mansion and was sent to Yu Jin to help supervise the army. When Yu Jin fought Zhang Xiu and the Battle of Guandu, Shi Huan followed him to fight.

He Mao and Wang Mo were of much lower status, as they were only forced to surrender when Yu Jin defeated Yuan Shao's army at the Battle of Guandu. Cao Cao also assigned these former Yuan troops to Yu Jin to continue to lead.

In such a situation, it was natural for Shi Huan to express his opinion first.

He was a civilian by birth and was rather cautious. He thought for a moment and said, "Since all this was Zhuge Jin's plan, our army has already lost the first battle and morale is low. If we continue to fight, I'm afraid we will get stuck deeper and deeper... We might as well try to withdraw as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Yu Jin did not object, but he looked a little embarrassed.

He Mao and Wang Mo, who were both military generals, couldn't help but point out a low-level mistake made by Shi Huan.

He Mao spoke first: "Although what Shi Canjun said is prudent, it is too... unrealistic. In the previous two times, our army used cavalry to rob food and came and went freely. It is not difficult to retreat if we cannot win.

This time, the main force of the infantry is following up and preparing to attack Dangyang. If only the cavalry vanguard is frustrated, they will retreat immediately, and the infantry will move slowly. If Huang Zhong pursues them and Zhuge Jin has other plans, how can we ensure that the main force of the infantry can retreat to Xianshan? "

After He Mao finished speaking, Wang Mo also echoed a few words and pointed out another point that Shi Huan had not considered carefully:

"I also think that we can't retreat lightly. This is not just a question of whether we can escape or not, but retreating now will only make our morale even lower. We have 30,000 infantrymen, and we think we've been defeated before we've even fought a battle. When the enemy pursues us, we'll most likely retreat.

It would be better to fight in Dangyang, relying on the absolute advantage in numbers to attack, first kill Huang Zhong, and regain our fighting spirit. Even if we fail to annihilate Huang Zhong, we can surround him and attack his reinforcements, wait for Zhuge Jin to rescue Huang Zhong, and then defeat Zhuge Jin's reinforcements!

I heard that none of Liu Bei's generals are here, and Guan Yu won't arrive until the end of the month at the earliest. Besides Huang Zhong, what other generals does Zhuge Jin have available?"

The plans of these people cannot even be considered as wise strategies. It can only be said that they have a slight understanding of military common sense.

Yu Jin didn't expect these guys to come up with any good ideas. He just wanted to listen to everyone's opinions and understand their mentality, and then Yu Jin would have a general idea.

"It seems that a direct retreat is indeed not feasible. Although it can avoid being forced into another battle in the face of Zhuge Jin's treacherous scheme, morale will definitely not hold up.

Besides, who knows if Zhuge Jin has any backup plan? Maybe he is just bluffing to trick us into giving up!
Well, let's just attack first. If we can take it down, that's the best. If we can't, we can just surround the enemy and attack the reinforcements. Anyway, we have to win a small victory to save the situation before considering whether to withdraw. "

Yu Jin finally made up his mind, then he gritted his teeth and ordered the soldiers who had just rested for a while to organize an attack as soon as possible.

……

After all, Yu Jin let the troops rest for more than an hour. Most of the Cao army's infantry, who had just traveled thirty miles, had recovered their strength.

The most important thing is that during this rest time, the soldiers can eat some of the dry food distributed before the battle, so that they will not be hungry and in poor condition when they charge into battle.

At the same time, during this more than an hour, Yu Jin also asked the soldiers to urgently cut down some trees nearby.

The relatively thick ones are used directly as knock blocks for doors.

The thinner ones were tied into rafts and used to create new attack routes on the trenches to prevent too many soldiers from crowding into the few entrances to the camp.

After making these preparations, Yu Jin ordered his troops to resume their offensive posture.

Thirty thousand infantrymen was already a very powerful army, and it was impossible for all of them to attack a camp. Therefore, Yu Jin would also leave a considerable reserve force to attack the camp one by one.

Soon, Cao's heavy infantry, carrying large shields, rushed forward first.

The archers of Cao's army also advanced slowly under the protection of the heavy infantry. When they were within the shooting range, they began to shoot at each other.

The number of soldiers in Huang Zhong's direct troops was only one-third of Yu Jin's, but he had just won a battle and his morale was high.

Even though the soldiers' physical strength was depleted due to the round-the-clock fighting, the spiritual boost was enough to make up for this small problem.

And just now when Yu Jin was resting, Huang Zhong's soldiers also took turns to get extra meals.

Huang Zhong was stationed in a large granary. The food conditions were extremely good and the soldiers guarding the camp were provided with full meals every day.

The vanguard soldiers of Cao's army generally could not be equipped with long weapons because they had to carry battering rams or rafts to cross the trenches, and they also had to climb up. They could only use swords and shields.

Those soldiers who were carrying heavy loads could not even hold a shield and could only use one hand to hold a sword.

Huang Zhong's defenders were able to use long spears and halberds as the first priority, which gave them an advantage in weapon length, and the front row also had a higher rate of wearing steel armor.

After the bloody fight between the two sides, Huang Zhong's men immediately gained an overwhelming advantage. For a moment, broken limbs and blood flew everywhere, and blood flowed along the wall of the village into the trench, gradually forming small pools of blood at the bottom.

The Cao army infantrymen in the front row fell down almost in droves, and had to be forced to fight one after another by the urging officers. Human life was as cheap as grass.

After the bloody battle lasted for more than half an hour and Cao's army suffered thousands of casualties and even more injuries, Cao's army was able to smash the camp gate and destroy most of the wall fortifications.

The Cao army soldiers in the back row could only rely on their two-handed long weapons to barely make up for the disadvantage in terms of weapon length. Yu Jin also saw the time when the front row cannon fodder successfully broke through the wall, and decisively ordered the deployment of the reserve troops. The Cao army's central army and rear army, each with several thousand elite soldiers, pressed forward again.

The bloody battle at Zhangxiang Water Fort was so intense that it reached a fever pitch. Both sides were shouting loudly and were completely oblivious to themselves.

Even after being injured, many soldiers were still driven by inertia to swing their weapons wildly, as if they had completely lost their sense of pain due to the surging adrenaline.

Huang Zhong's defense was well-balanced and strict. When Cao's army rushed too hard and the front-line soldiers could not hold on, he appropriately let the elite troops who had fought for a long time retreat and let the second-line troops continue to hold on.

This slightly flexible defense allowed Huang Zhong to preserve his manpower as much as possible and also allowed exhausted soldiers to take turns to rest.

Although some outer positions will be temporarily lost, from the perspective of a protracted war, it is definitely the best choice.

In comparison, the casualties of the opposing Cao army were always far higher than those of Liu Bei's army.

But Cao's army commander Yu Jin was resolute and always paid more attention to the overall situation when looking at issues.

At this moment, he only cared about the degree of breakthrough in the enemy camp. He still firmly believed in his heart that Huang Zhong was able to stick to him because of the advantage of terrain.

If the two sides fought on the plains, my infantry strength alone would be three times that of Huang Zhong, and I would still have thousands of remaining cavalry, so I could definitely annihilate Huang Zhong!
Therefore, as long as his soldiers continue to break through Huang Zhong’s fortifications one by one and equalize the geographical advantages and disadvantages of both sides, there is still hope!

However, as the fighting intensified, Yu Jin himself realized that the situation seemed a little bit wrong - Zhangxiang Water Fort was a large granary that had been temporarily expanded several times, so its area was naturally very large, and there were many layers of buildings and defense lines.

However, the defensive strength of this temporary and barbaric expansion of the camp should not be very high.

Why was Huang Zhong always able to organize his soldiers to retreat in an orderly manner and continue to resist whenever he encountered a slight disadvantage?

Seeing that his soldiers had broken through Huang Zhong's two outer defense lines, but the killing of the enemy's manpower was still not ideal, Yu Jin finally made a decision.

"Throw the last reserve troops in! The front troops have already breached two camp walls. Let the reserve troops bring enough torches and throw them directly in. First burn the outer granaries to disrupt the enemy's morale!"

Yu Jin gave the order decisively, and then his reserve troops immediately rushed forward carrying more torches under the urging of the military officer Shi Huan.

When they arrived early this morning, Yu Jin used his cavalry to raid the camp and thought about setting it on fire. However, Huang Zhong came prepared and temporarily poured wet mud on the wooden fence of the camp wall and dug a trench with water inside the camp wall. All these measures completely thwarted Yu Jin's plan of setting fire.

But times have changed. Now Yu Jin's army has breached two outer defense lines, and although the casualties are indeed extremely heavy, the price is also terribly high.

But according to Yu Jin's observation, the subsequent defense line inside the enemy camp was not as strong as the outermost one.

There was no wet mud or water trenches, and as Huang Zhong continued to retreat, his side was approaching the granary area of Liu Bei's army.

This might become a fatal breaking point.

Half an incense stick later, Shi Huan finally led Yu Jin's reserve team to the front line and replaced the first echelon that had been exhausted from the attack.

Out of fear of Huang Zhong's archery skills, Shi Huan did not even dare to raise the flag, but simply commanded the advance under the cover of the shield wall.

Groups of Cao's veteran soldiers, with swords hanging from their waists and shields on their heads, and several torches in their other hands, and even swallowtail torches with forked iron nails stuck at the end of the wooden handles, gradually approached the front line of the battle.

Huang Zhong's troops fired arrows at them one after another. From time to time, someone was hit in the calf or foot by an arrow and fell to the ground screaming. But the comrades next to them just ignored the wounded and continued to advance until they were close to the throwing distance. "Hurry up and throw the torches to burn the warehouse!"

Following the orders given by the frontline officers, thousands of torches flew through the air, their wooden handles spinning as they flew towards the large silo dozens of steps away.

Shi Huan was anxious, staring at the fire ahead. He was worried that the flames would be like the surprise attack on the camp this morning, where they would not spread after being thrown up, and would eventually burn out when the resin on the torches was consumed.

But this time, his inner expectation seemed to be seen by God. He stared at it for less than a minute before the fire began to grow bigger.

Huang Zhong on the opposite side even showed signs of "panic" and began to organize his soldiers to abandon the second line of defense and retreat to the third line of defense deep in the camp.

This scene finally deeply stimulated Shi Huan, who was supervising the battle on the front line, and also stimulated Yu Jin who was in charge of the rear.

They all experienced the Battle of Guandu, and they all knew that when Cao Cao was fighting for his life in Wuchao, he ignored the enemy's reinforcements and counterattacks, and focused on burning food first and attacking Chunyu Qiong fiercely. As for Han Meng who came from behind, the Cao army was not allowed to turn around and fight until he was behind him.

But it was this style of fighting that finally killed Chunyu Qiong.

At that moment, at this moment.

The Huang Zhong of today is the Chunyu Qiong of that year!
Today's Zhuge Jin is the same as Han Meng back then!
Charge in first! Expand your victory! Burn more granaries! Once the enemy's morale collapses, everything will be settled!
The fate of the Cao family depends on this battle! You must work hard!

"Kill! Huang Zhong is already in disarray, all of you, charge forward with all your might! All the generals must do their best! Anyone who hesitates and retreats will be killed immediately!"

The commander-in-chief Shi Huan's eyes were bloodshot, and he shouted loudly to urge all Cao's soldiers to charge with all their might.

Yu Jin, who was holding the line in the rear, ignored the fact that his breastplate was shot by an arrow by Huang Zhong in the morning, and personally led the last of his personal guards, as well as some veterans who had just been rotated out and were exhausted, and all rushed forward.

At this point, there was no time to worry about "letting the troops attack in turns and letting the retreating soldiers recover their strength, so as to be ready to surround and attack Zhuge Jin if he came to reinforce."

Why are you besieging any point and attacking any reinforcements? You must be able to adapt to changing circumstances when fighting!

At this moment, what we need to do is to replicate the victory path of the Battle of Wuchao 100% and discard all other options!

When it's time to fight for your life, you have to go all out! Direct F2A!
Even if Zhuge Jin came from Dangyang City to rescue, he could "turn around and fight the enemy only when they are behind him"! No need to save strength just for Zhuge Jin!
Cao's army's offensive was completely stretched to its limit.

Such a bloody and brutal charge, like a raging wave, crashed into Huang Zhong's rock-solid defense, shattering layer after layer of waves.

Some Cao's soldiers were frightened by this reckless attack and hesitated, but the officers supervising the battle behind them became extremely strict and could result in being beheaded even for any hesitation.

The commander-in-chief Shi Huan no longer cared about his own safety. He personally carried a sword and led his personal guards, riding his horse past each formation to support them. He shouted loudly to boost morale, and killed those who retreated with a single blow of his sword.

He even killed a dozen cowards in a row before he got everyone motivated.

However, this desperate attack only lasted for two cups of tea, and the situation soon changed.

Huang Zhong, who retreated to the third line of defense, suddenly became determined.

The previous state of flexible defense and slight retreat when the situation was not good seemed to suddenly disappear.

Yu Jin and Shi Huan couldn't help but have an illusion. Could it be that Huang Zhong was playing them just now?

And at this moment, a bigger change was exposed.

Just now, after Cao's army threw torches and set fire to the outer granary, didn't Huang Zhong retreat slightly? If Cao's army followed up at the right time, they would naturally occupy the position covered by the burning granary.

In the military camp, granaries were kept at a distance from each other. So even if a granary caught fire, there was no need to worry that the passageways through the camp would be covered by flames. At most, it would restrict the movement of the attacking troops, forcing them to move slightly away from the fire.

When they were at Wuchao, Cao's army burned Chunyu Qiong's granaries, but they continued to charge forward despite the smoke and fire. Didn't they win a great victory in the end? The most they did was get a little blackened by the smoke and choked.

But the actual situation now is gradually different from what Yu Jin and Shi Huan had expected at the beginning.

The speed at which the fire spread in Liu Bei's army's granaries was beyond imagination, and it burned too quickly.

Moreover, many of the corridors between warehouses were paved with thin hay. As the granaries collapsed and scattered due to large-scale fires, the scattered sparks ignited more and more things.

"Ah! The fire is so big! The granary is falling apart!"

"Oh no! Why is all that coming out of the collapsed granary straw? Not grain!"

As some granaries were burned down, the light dry grass and wheat straw were blown away by the heat wave. Some of the attacking Cao soldiers were soon burned. They could not help but scream and roll around, and then they naturally discovered so many abnormal and suspicious points.

In less than half a cup of tea, Yu Jin and Shi Huan quickly noticed this problem. They also quickly drew out their spears and poked at the granary closest to them, trying to pry open the outer wall to see what was inside.

"Oh no! These mud walls are so thin! They will be pierced through with a single poke! They can't bear any weight at all!"

"This isn't a granary! It's just a pile of straw disguised as a granary! There's just sand underneath!"

At this moment, no matter how dumb Yu Jin and Shi Huan were, they knew that they had fallen into a trap again.

How despicable! Three schemes in one day! Each one is different!

Huang Zhong on the opposite side also strengthened the firepower of the crossbows and began to let the soldiers shout in unison:
"Yu Jin, you fool, you have fallen into Zhuge Situ's trap again! You must have felt great burning Chunyu Qiong back then! Do you really think there is another Chunyu Qiong in the world?"

"Dangyang doesn't have that much food stored, Situ is just putting it on display for you!"

The same words were roared out loudly by thousands of Liu Bei's soldiers.

Even though it was hard to hear clearly because of the blazing fire and howling wind ahead, the combined loud voices of so many people were still extraordinary, and there were always waves of devilish sounds piercing their ears, making the Cao army soldiers more panicked.

Being driven by a burning haystack is deadly enough, but it is not as deadly as the sentence "You have fallen into the trap again, everything was staged from the beginning."

The Cao army soldiers who were originally fighting hard seemed to have their fighting spirit quickly drained away. They ran around in panic and completely lost the will to fight.

How big, deep, and far is the pit that the enemy has dug! They started laying out the plan at least half a month ago or even longer ago. So, when the enemy officially closes the net, how terrible will everything be?
This is not something you can think about too deeply, and ordinary soldiers won't think about it too deeply either.

However, as long as mid- and high-level military officers, and even generals, have a bit of common sense, once they think about this, they will shudder, as if they have fallen into an icy cave in the underworld.

Over the years, the fear that Cao's army was dominated by the wisdom of the Zhuge brothers and the historical record that the princes of the world were dominated by the wisdom of the princes have come again.

Huang Zhong on the opposite side was not in a hurry to counterattack. He just steadily held the third line of defense, waiting for changes, waiting for Yu Jin's soldiers to collapse in chaos, and then pursue them to expand the results of the battle.

After all, Yu Jin's 30,000-strong army did not completely collapse at once.

When chaos first arises, some people react quickly and some slowly. When it comes to "realizing that they have fallen into a trap," some people are quick and some are slow.

Therefore, some of Cao's soldiers had already begun to flee in panic, while some who were still sluggish were still struggling to attack Huang Zhong's defense line.

It was a pity that without the support of their comrades, those diehard and slowest-reacting soldiers in Cao's army were quickly smashed to pieces by Huang Zhong's iron wall of crossbows without causing any waves.

The most die-hard elite Cao soldiers were slaughtered one after another until the attacking side was completely defeated.

At this moment, on the south side of the battlefield, there were rumbling sounds of horses’ hooves and rolling dust.

Thousands of elite cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry rushed northward along the Ju River to attack.

This reinforcement army that came from Dangyang County to reinforce Huang Zhong did not have any famous or great generals leading the troops.

But under Zhuge Jin's careful planning and arrangements, there was no need for famous generals.

Ordinary generals could easily win under such circumstances as long as they implemented Zhuge Jin's strategy well.

When Yu Jin saw Zhuge Jin's reinforcements appearing in the south, he fell into complete despair.

He had been too desperate before, only thinking about burning down Liu Bei's army's food storage points, and had no reserve troops left to attack the reinforcements.

After putting all our efforts into the attack, the situation still remains like this. How can we resist?

Huang Zhong on the opposite side was greatly encouraged when he saw Cao's army fleeing in panic and trying to divide their troops to resist the reinforcements coming from the south. He immediately ordered the entire army to launch a full-scale counterattack.

Huang Zhong himself took the only thousand or so cavalrymen in the camp, opened the inner camp gate, and rushed out amid smoke and fire.

"Old general, don't be reckless! The task given to us by the Prime Minister is only to defend the camp, consume Cao's bandits, and delay until the arrival of reinforcements." Huang Zhong was reminded by his subordinates that he had already completed the task, and if he continued fighting, he would exceed the quota.

Huang Zhong shouted loudly: "That's because Situ's brilliant plan was wasted. The enemy has been defeated, when else should we take the opportunity to pursue them?"

As he spoke, he shot arrows in succession and charged forward.

Cao's army was in a panic, and those who fought against them were afraid. Even Shi Huan, who was in charge of supervising the front line attack on the camp, was completely defeated by Huang Zhong's personal charge.

Shi Huan's personal guards were killed one after another and fled in all directions. Huang Zhong shot Shi Huan with arrows from behind, killing him and knocking him off his horse. Huang Zhong rushed forward and cut off his body with a knife.

Because Yu Jin was in charge of the rear army, he had time to flee. However, in the chaos, he was shot by an arrow and fled with injuries.

Countless Cao soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured.

(End of this chapter)