My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 687 Both Sides Claim to Be the Winner

Zhang Fei rushed forward with all his might and stabbed Niu Jin to death, breaking through the enemy's formation.

It seemed that they were full of vigor and intimidated the enemy, and they managed to turn the situation around.

But in fact, after Zhang Fei led his troops out of danger and put some distance between them and the enemy by relying on the speed advantage of his cavalry, he himself could not help but feel scared.

Everything that had just happened was for the sake of the victory of the brave. His instinct after more than twenty years of fighting told him that if he let go of his temper, he would most likely be the one to collapse.

Therefore, although he seemed to have broken through the enemy's formation fiercely, after escaping danger, he did not dare to turn back and fight Cao Ren to the death again.

Cao Ren, on the other side, was also shocked by Zhang Fei's bravery because of Niu Jin's death. He could not tell the enemy's strength and weakness, and did not know how much potential Zhang Fei had. So he let the enemy army pull away and did not dare to pursue them rashly.

Both sides were afraid of both ends, so the probing was stalled for the time being.

"This Cao Ren could actually lead his troops to a forced march of 70 miles a day, and he even told them to stop if they wanted to, and told them to turn around and fight to the death, and they really did turn around and fight to the death.

Some of the comrades who were sent to lure the enemy were sold out by Cao Ren, but the remaining soldiers were not affected or disrupted. He is indeed a famous general. I was a little reckless just now. It was a close call. "

Zhang Fei thought to himself, breathing heavily while thinking about countermeasures.

"Zhang Fei was able to bravely fight his way through our army and rescue the trapped troops. I set up such a tight defense, but I still couldn't trap him. I can only hope that Gong Ming will come to help. By then, the whole army will slowly retreat. I hope he won't take the opportunity to defeat us one by one..."

Cao Ren on the opposite side was also thinking the same thing.

What he hoped now was that after enduring this period, he would be able to survive today. After Xu Huang's reinforcements joined him, he could retreat to Xinye safely even if he had to wait and see and crawl slowly.

Of course, if it really drags on until dark, there may be new changes. Zhang Fei can make a few sudden moves in the dark and achieve some surprise results. There is nothing he can do about it. Who knows?

The two sides were in a stalemate. After Zhang Fei recovered his breath, he did not pursue Cao Ren and attacked him fiercely. He just used the speed advantage of the cavalry to harass Cao Ren from a distance and look for an opportunity to fight.

Cao Ren was being watched like this, and the two sides occasionally shot at each other, causing Cao's army to retreat very slowly and cautiously.

In normal marches, it is possible to walk fifty or sixty miles a day, and in forced marches, it is possible to walk more than eighty miles a day. But there is a prerequisite, that is, the troops must advance in a loose and convenient marching formation.

If they retreated in battle formation like this, they might not be able to cover 20 to 30 miles a day. But Cao Ren was afraid of being exposed, so he did not dare to change the formation before dark.

The two sides spent more than an hour in this way, and the sky gradually darkened. Both sides were very anxious, but neither was willing to take the initiative to break the status quo.

While harassing him, Zhang Fei was thinking in his mind: I wonder if my second brother has taken Fancheng?

If my second brother is brave enough, he can take advantage of the situation to subdue the Fancheng defenders abandoned by Cao Ren. Then he can immediately chase us with light infantry. Considering the distance, maybe he can arrive early tomorrow morning and join forces with me? By then, our army will still have the upper hand, so why worry about not being able to keep Cao Ren?

But Fancheng was not so easy to break. If we delayed for another day or two, we would have to watch Cao Ren return to Xinye...

Zhang Fei didn't know whether his delay and waiting was right or not, or whether it had any value, but he couldn't decide it all by himself. It also depended on Guan Yu's cooperation.

Cao Ren, who was on the other side, was actually betting on the situation in Fancheng while he was in a state of anxiety. He didn't know whether Guan Yu would immediately lead his entire army to pursue him after hearing that he had broken through, or would he only send Zhang Fei with his cavalry to pursue him first.

What Cao Ren was betting on was that Guan Yu would not be able to come, or would come late, at least much later than Xu Huang, and then Cao's army would be able to escape this time.

The two sides harassed each other at a low intensity until the end of the You hour of the same day, when unexpectedly something unexpected happened.

It was already completely dark at that time, and Cao's army had to light torches to be on guard.

There were dozens of cavalrymen who looked like scouts and messengers on the horizon, heading north in the dark, following the torches to find the army. Some of them even made the wrong choice because it was dark, and mistakenly entered Zhang Fei's army, and were then killed or captured by Zhang Fei's troops.

Zhang Fei interrogated them urgently and found out that these cavalrymen were the ones who broke out of Fancheng before it was captured. It was Guo Jia who ordered them to break out and send a message before his death.

Of course, in the eyes of these messengers, they had no idea how long Guo Jia's "last moments" would last.

After Guo Jia gave the order, they rode out of the east gate and walked on the ice across the Baihe River to break out. When they left Fancheng, Guo Jia was indeed still alive, and they didn't know whether he had died or not.

Guo Jia was afraid that these messengers would fail to break through and be killed on the way, so he sent many people north to find Cao Ren to report the news.

Because of the chaos and darkness, and the fact that Zhang Fei's cavalry was holding on to Cao Ren, during the struggle between the two sides, some of the Cao army's messenger cavalry who came by the firelight were caught by Zhang Fei by mistake.

But there must be more Cao army messenger cavalry who could successfully meet Cao Ren, so Zhang Fei did not expect to block the enemy's news.

When Zhang Fei heard the enemy prisoners say that Fancheng had been breached, he was delighted at first, but he also had no doubts at all - how could Guo Jia make up such a rumor? The news of the fall of Fancheng must have been a major blow to the morale of Cao's army, and they would have lost their fighting spirit after hearing it.

But then Zhang Fei realized the problem: Since Fancheng was breached, it was bad news for Cao's army, so why did Guo Jia spread this bad news? There must be other intentions, right?
Zhang Fei was a man with a bad temper and didn't care about the suffering of his soldiers. He had never been able to completely change that. Even though the situation had improved a lot in recent years, it was only limited to his own people.

If he encountered enemy prisoners and wanted to torture them for useful information, Zhang Fei's violent temper that had been suppressed for years would be completely released, and he would take the opportunity to whip them severely.

Even if you don't ask, it's good to just smoke first.

So he whipped the Cao army messenger cavalrymen hard on the heads, and the tip of the whip made a sonic boom.

The captured messengers howled in agony, but one of them, with a quick mind, quickly begged for mercy: "General, please ask if there's anything else you want to know! Don't just smoke."

Zhang Fei was so excited that he remembered that he hadn't asked yet. He didn't want to delay things, so he picked up the prisoner and asked, "Why did Guo Jia ask you to inform Cao Ren that Fancheng was lost? If Fancheng was lost, how could anyone carry out Guo Jia's order? Where exactly did our army attack when he gave the order?"

The captives were so frightened by the beating that they didn't care what Zhang Fei asked. They just told him everything.

They also said all the questions Zhang Fei hadn't thought of asking yet, fearing that Zhang Fei wouldn't be able to figure out the cause and effect, so they beat him up first and then asked additional questions.

"General, please spare my life! When we left the city, Fancheng had not been completely breached, but the West City had been breached! Both the city gate and the main city gate were breached! When we left, Guo Jijiu was still alive, but we don't know whether he escaped later.

Military Advisor Guo asked us to report back to General Cao quickly because he wanted to tell him that before the city was breached, Military Advisor Guo fought a desperate battle and lured Guan Yu into the city wall, where he was shot and seriously injured. In addition, Gao Shun was also tricked and fell from the city, but time was short and the enemy's injuries and life or death were unknown.

Military Advisor Guo judged at that time that regardless of the life and death of Guan Yu and Gao Shun, the main force of Liu Bei's army attacking Fancheng would definitely not be able to move north for a while. I hope General Cao will not worry about being caught in a pincer attack and try to withdraw the army safely to Xinye."

When Zhang Fei heard this, his eyes suddenly turned red.

"What? Guo Jia, you bastard! How dare you hurt my second brother? I will tear him into pieces! All the troops, follow me to attack Cao Ren. We won't wait for reinforcements! We will trample Cao's army in the dark and kill as many as we can!"

Zhang Fei jumped up with a roar, and was about to pick up his snake spear and mount his horse to fight again.

Fortunately, he had military officers and subordinates around him who tried to persuade him.

In today's battle, one of the soldiers surrounding Zhang Fei was specially sent by Guan Yu. He was Xiang Chong, a native of Jingzhou.

During the Battle of Lumen Mountain, Guan Yu sent Xiang Chong to Gao Shun and Guan Ping to serve as a guide for the army because Xiang Chong was very familiar with the terrain of Lumen Mountain since he was a child and his uncle was a disciple of Sima Hui.

Although Xiang Chong was young, he did not fail in his mission. Later, he took Guan Ping through a small path and climbed the mountain to launch a surprise attack, and successfully captured the Lumen Mountain stronghold guarded by Du Xi.

After this battle, Guan Yu was quite impressed with this young man. He also knew that he had a good understanding of the geography of northern Jing and was familiar with all the places, so he let him continue to serve as a guide.

This time when Zhang Fei came to pursue Cao Ren, he also needed the help of a local who was familiar with the geography of northern Han, so he sent him to lead the way.

Xiang Chong was just leading the way. Although he had read some books with his uncle Xiang Lang and learned some basic military knowledge, he never had a chance to show his abilities.

At this moment, seeing Zhang Fei's impulsiveness, and the fact that other civil officials and counselors could not bear the pain of continuous galloping on horseback today, they could not join the army in time. Xiang Chong, a military officer, immediately seized this opportunity and calmly advised:

"Right General, you must not be reckless! Since this news is bad news for our army, how do we know if it is Guo Jia's trick? Did these people see General Guan being shot with an arrow?

Maybe Guo Jia even deceived his own people, and deliberately wanted to use dead spies to provoke you, causing our army to be unable to deal with the situation calmly.

If there is any change in Fancheng, even if General Guan cannot send someone to contact and report, Situ will deal with it. Let's wait for news from our own people before making a decision."

Zhang Fei thought it made sense. He was just worried and confused.

Things have come to this, and there is no need to waste another hour or two. We should first figure it out.

"Well, let's wait a little longer. Since Fancheng has breached the city wall so early in the morning, they will definitely send us news. Even if my second brother is fine, they will send us a good news." Zhang Fei muttered and had to continue waiting.

Because he was worried about Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, who had insisted on "not drinking during battle" for a long time, couldn't help but feel bored and broke the rule again.

But he didn't drink too much, he just drank to relieve his depression, and others didn't dare to persuade him.

Another half hour passed like this. Before Zhang Fei received the messenger from Guan Yu or Zhuge Jin, he heard the Cao army on the opposite side shouting and joking loudly.

Cao Ren sent out a large number of cursers, who shouted and cursed on the spot, simply to undermine Zhang Fei's morale and tell Zhang Fei that Guan Yu was injured.

Zhang Fei was annoyed when he heard this, but he did not dare to attack rashly when he saw the enemy's morale rising sharply. And while they were waiting, the enemy also received reinforcements. It turned out that Xu Huang brought part of the Xinye garrison to support Cao Ren.

The strength of Cao's army suddenly increased by several percent. In comparison, Zhang Fei's forces were even more insufficient and he was completely unable to fight a decisive battle.

After Zhang Fei and Cao Ren had shown off their might, another half hour passed, until the second watch, when they received a message from a messenger from the south.

When Zhang Fei heard this, he immediately received the other party solemnly.

The messenger said that he was sent by Zhuge Situ to contact the Right General and that there was a letter here. He then took out a bamboo tube with a wax seal intact.

Zhang Fei was startled and just hurriedly checked the seal. Then he drew his knife and split the bamboo tube to take out the silk. He asked someone to light a torch to illuminate it for a closer look.

While opening the bamboo tube, Zhang Fei hurriedly asked, "Why is it the letter from Situ? How is General Wei?"

The messenger knew some inside information and quickly explained, "General Guan was indeed shot by an arrow, but the famous doctor Wu Pu has been sent to see him, and he is fine. General Gao's broken leg was also set by Wu Pu, and it will be healed in a few months. It was because the Minister of Justice confirmed that the injuries of the two were treatable that he wrote an urgent letter to avoid worrying General Zhang."

While listening, Zhang Fei took a quick look at the text on the silk. He was relieved to find that the two statements were consistent.

"How did the second brother get shot by an arrow again? Fortunately, it was only his arm that was injured and he has a famous doctor to treat him. This bastard Guo Jia is so vicious even though he is dead!"

Zhuge Jin's letter came later and was more detailed, with all the causes and consequences. So Zhang Fei confirmed Guo Jia's death from the letter, and also learned that Guo Jia's body was beheaded by Guan Ping's nephew.

As a result, Zhang Fei's original impulsive anger also dissipated by more than half. He would no longer ignore strategic considerations and fight Cao Ren to death just because of Guan Yu's minor injury.

After all, Guan Ping's nephew had already avenged his father's injury, and it didn't even take overnight.

After understanding the overall situation, Zhang Fei quickly realized the dilemma he was facing.

He knew that the opportunity to take advantage of the enemy's retreat and completely defeat Cao Ren had been completely lost.

“Since my second brother and Zhongda were both truly injured, Cao Ren would surely encourage the entire army when he heard the news, and make his subordinates believe that my second brother could not send troops to reinforce me.

As a result, Cao's army, which originally had 70% fighting spirit to fight to the death, now has 100%. With such a united will, how can we fight? Well, let's make a feint first, pretend to withdraw the troops, and then see if Cao Ren can reveal any flaws. "

Thinking of this, Zhang Fei acted decisively and immediately ordered his troops to retreat slightly, and then set up camp on the spot to rest.

Of course, because it was a long-distance raid, his troops did not bring tents, so they could only find a sheltered place, wrapped in a blanket and slept there. Moreover, without a camp, he had to assign some cavalry to patrol at night to prevent the enemy from attacking in return.

After making the arrangements, Zhang Fei personally rode his horse with several hundred cavalrymen to Cao Ren's formation, showed off his might, and said some harsh words:
"Cao Ren, you bastard! This time Guo Jia was lucky enough to injure our general, allowing you to escape! If we meet again next time, I will make sure you don't leave even a single piece of armor behind!"

After shouting these harsh words, Zhang Fei pretended to retreat.

Cao Ren and Xu Huang on the opposite side also breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this. They looked at each other and decided to retreat slowly first, and then speed up the withdrawal after they were sure they had distanced themselves from Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei did not chase the enemy in the first half of the night, but let his troops sleep where they were.

It was estimated that by the fourth watch, two hours had passed since the two armies broke contact.

Zhang Fei calculated the speed of Cao Ren's troops and thought that Cao Ren should be only a dozen miles away from Xinye. It is estimated that part of the vanguard has even retreated back to the city, and the rear army should be a little relaxed.

Zhang Fei calculated the time accurately and called on the cavalrymen who had slept for less than two hours to continue to mount their horses and chase. As for the soldiers who had just patrolled for their comrades and the wounded, they stayed where they were. In the end, Zhang Fei only selected three or four thousand cavalrymen to go into battle.

For the cavalry, it was easy to catch up with the two-hour distance difference of the infantry by a fast march. Moreover, Cao's army did not rest well while Zhang Fei did.

More than half an hour later, Zhang Fei caught up with the rear of Cao Ren's army again. Taking advantage of the darkness before dawn, he launched a surprise attack and slightly defeated Cao Ren's rearguard troops. However, the scale of the troops was not large, only about 4,000 people.

These four thousand men were not completely wiped out by Zhang Fei. They were merely overwhelmed. The number of Cao's soldiers who were directly killed or wounded in the darkness was estimated to be no more than one or two thousand.

However, it was too close to Xinye, and Jia Xu was guarding Xinye.

Jia Xu was also quite good at guarding against the enemy's pursuit of deserters. After learning that Cao Ren and Xu Huang had returned to the city, he immediately thought of some remedial measures.

Zhang Fei ultimately failed to expand his victory and suffered some casualties. He could only make a small profit and save some face, then he withdrew his troops completely.

After the battle, both Cao Ren and Zhang Fei stated that they were the winners of the pursuit.

Zhang Fei spread the word everywhere that he had defeated Cao Ren so badly that he forced him to flee, and that Cao Ren's main force was almost half lost.

Cao Ren said that Zhang Fei's pursuit hit a wall, and the losses were heavy and there was no profit at all. Although Guan Yu had some victories, Cao's army also fought back, and the invading Guan Yu and Gao Shun were both seriously injured and on the verge of death. It is said that they are now only on their last breath and may die at any time.

This is the inevitable result of the propaganda machines of both sides going all out during the war. If there is really nothing to brag about, then just find a different angle to brag about it.

However, the victory or defeat of the Fancheng breakout could still be whitewashed, and Cao Ren could still say that he had inflicted heavy damage on the pursuers during the "advance".

But maps don't lie. For some forces, the more they win battles, the smaller their territory becomes.

The fall of Fancheng and the subsequent desperate situation of Cao's army in Xiangyang were two pieces of bad news that Cao's army could not cover up no matter how hard they tried.

Moreover, these two pieces of bad news broke out almost instantly, leaving Cao Cao completely humiliated, and he wouldn't know where to pick up the pieces if he wanted to.

In Fancheng, after Zhuge Jin settled Guan Yu and Gao Shun and waited for Zhang Fei to successfully withdraw his troops back to the city, he began to work on his next important task.

He pickled Guo Jia's head carefully, trying his best to ensure that the appearance was not distorted, and put it in a nanmu gift box.

Then he sent Deng Zhi, who had met Yu Jin before, to make another mission to deliver the gifts, thus giving General Yu a way out.

(End of this chapter)