My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 703 Brother Jingsheng can rest in peace in heaven
"Fellow elders and brothers of Jingzhou! Stop working for that bastard Cai Mao!"

"Huang Hansheng is here! All the soldiers, follow me to kill the bastard Cai Mao and avenge the old envoy! Seek justice for the eldest son!"

"Cao Ren has abandoned Wancheng and fled for his life! Zhang Yide has already reached Xudu! Cao thief is doomed, don't work for him anymore!"

There were originally quite a few defenders in Bowang City, and not all of them were former members of the Jingzhou Army. Some of them were direct troops of Cao's Army. In theory, their will to resist should have been good enough.

But as the city gates were opened and the towers were on fire, Huang Zhong's cavalry rampaged along the long street, shouting and yelling. Especially the content of their shouting was mostly true.

Upon seeing this situation, Cai Mao's former subordinates in the city were soon completely shaken and could not help but turn against their allies and join Huang Zhong.

Faced with the chaos, Cai Mao originally thought of suppressing the situation with his personal guards, but after a moment, he realized that the situation was hopeless, and hurriedly ordered his personal guards to protect him as he broke out.

"Don't worry about Huang Zhong! Quickly open the north gate and leave the city! Follow me to Ye County overnight! Catch up with General Cao Ren's retreating troops!

Damn Huang Zhong! If I had known yesterday, I should have disobeyed orders and left Bowang alone, and just followed the first group of retreating troops!"

Cai Mao was so anxious that he didn't care what vicious words he said. He was full of complaints and fear and only thought about how to survive.

Whether it's disobedience or not, military law or not, it doesn't matter anymore.

……

In the process of capturing Bowang County, Huang Zhong was not able to lay ambushes in advance in all possible escape directions of the county like his colleagues Zhang Fei and Wei Yan did during the Battle of Xincai.

But this cannot be blamed on Huang Zhong, because when Zhang Fei and Wei Yan were in Xincai, they were certain that they could capture the city, and they also knew roughly when they would succeed.

What's more, there are two people, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan, who can take care of their own affairs. Zhang Fei is responsible for the open siege, while Wei Yan can set up an ambush in advance in the direction where the enemy may break out.

But Huang Zhong's opportunity to fight tonight came too suddenly.

It would be great if you could seize this sudden opportunity. Who has time to take the time to make careful arrangements?

Moreover, even if Huang Zhong wanted to do so, he was unable to do so alone, and he did not have a deputy general with sufficient strength to set an ambush and intercept Cai Mao.

If the deputy general's strength is not even as good as Cai Mao's, sending him may result in death and dampen the morale of his own side.

Therefore, in a desperate situation, Huang Zhong could only make a desperate attempt and prioritize the capture of Bowang County, which was the main goal, in order to cut off Cao's army's subsequent withdrawal to Yingchuan from the Bowang-Ye County road.

As for whether or not Cai Mao could be killed or captured in the chaos of battle, that would only be an additional bonus and could not be included in the assessment.

Once Cai Mao ran away, the situation in the city completely collapsed.

About half an hour later, as the shouting and screaming in Bowang County gradually subsided, this small county with not too many troops stationed there was finally controlled by Huang Zhong.

After confirming that the situation was settled, Huang Zhong hurriedly gathered all the senior enemy officers captured on the battlefield and questioned them sternly:

"Where is Cai Mao? Why didn't he personally supervise the battle and defend the city?"

The captured officers also didn't want to say anything at first, but Huang Zhong didn't have time to waste time chatting with them. When he saw that they were not being honest, he whipped them directly. He also picked out one or two who looked particularly unruly and killed them directly with a knife, and the rest naturally became honest.

"Cai Mao led his personal cavalry and broke through the north gate! He must be chasing the friendly forces that retreated yesterday!" Several captured officers quickly betrayed Cai Mao's whereabouts.

"You actually abandoned the city and ran away? You don't even have the guts to stay and fight me? Chase them immediately! Select the light cavalry with enough horsepower to chase them! All the heavy cavalry should stay here to rest and control Bowang County."

Huang Zhong gave an order angrily, and immediately divided and deployed the army simply, and handed over the physical work of controlling the entire city and restoring order in the city to his deputy general.

He also changed to an unarmored light cavalry horse, selected some light cavalry troops with good physical strength, and went directly out of the north gate and chased in the northeast direction along the Tongbai Valley.

Huang Zhong chased him from the beginning of the fourth watch until dawn.

After chasing for more than thirty miles, they finally saw hundreds of riders fleeing in a panic in front of them in a section of Tongbai Mountain Valley.

Huang Zhong knew that it was Cai Mao, and he became energized, mustering up his remaining courage and running faster.

He also took off the precious carved bow hanging from the saddle, and drew out the armor-piercing arrows with steel-forged arrowheads. He started to shoot arrows at the enemy even from a distance while running all the way.

With a buzzing sound, and the sound of arrows breaking through the wind, an enemy rider in armor was shot off his horse and howled miserably. Huang Zhong's arrow accurately hit the back of the opponent's thigh, which was not protected by armor for riding.

"How can they be chasing so fast?" Cai Mao was shocked when he heard the arrows breaking through the wind and screams behind him. He turned his head and stared for a few seconds, only to find that the people Huang Zhong was chasing were all light cavalry without iron armor.

In comparison, Cai Mao still cherishes his life after all.

He and his personal guards were all wearing relatively good armor as they fled for their lives. They were also mentally prepared to split up and fight back to delay the attack if they were caught up halfway.

But the cavalry was heavy and the horses were naturally slow, so even if they ran for half an hour, they were still caught up by Huang Zhong within thirty or forty miles.

Cai Mao gritted his teeth and didn't want to throw away his armor and helmet immediately. After all, Huang Zhong was so close to him. Even if he threw away his armor and sped up, he might not be able to pull away much. And once he was without armor, he would not even have the strength to fight when he was caught up.

So Cai Mao made up his mind and shouted an order, asking a trusted military commander to lead 300 cavalrymen to fight back and hold Huang Zhong back. Cai Mao himself led the remaining 100 or 200 cavalrymen and sped away from the battlefield.

At this time, abandoning some of the subordinates to cover the retreat is theoretically more reliable than hastily taking off the armor.

The military commander was usually well-fed by Cai Mao with benefits, otherwise he would not have followed him to this desperate moment.

Although he was afraid of Huang Zhong, he also saw that Huang Zhong dared to pursue him so relentlessly today even without armor, so he couldn't help but have a glimmer of hope for wealth and honor in his heart.

"Under normal circumstances, how could we be his opponent if we met Huang Zhong on the battlefield? But today, it is rare that the enemy has no armor, while our army has iron armor. Maybe if we fight to the death and kill Huang Zhong, wealth and honor will be within our grasp. As long as we return alive, the Prime Minister will make us a Lieutenant General or Marquis of Duxiang."

In the end, feeling that this was a rare opportunity, the group of Cai Mao's followers, who were greedy for wealth and fame, gritted their teeth and pounced on Huang Zhong.

The pursuers sent by Huang Zhong were actually slightly more numerous than them, but they were lightly armed and without armor, so they had no other disadvantages. Huang Zhong couldn't help but smile smugly when he saw this group of lucky guys who were so desperate to save their lives.

But soon, Huang Zhong discovered that the enemy general who came to block the attack actually had some brains and was a little clever.

"Charge forward and shoot arrows! Don't fight with Huang Zhong! They don't have armor, and the rain of arrows can defeat them!" The military commander under Cai Mao, after leading his troops to the range of the cavalry archery exchange, immediately shouted and gave orders.

He knew very well that if he rushed to the hand-to-hand combat distance and fought with Huang Zhong, there would be little difference whether he had armor or not.

Huang Zhong's sword was so powerful and heavy that he could be hacked to death by the enemy even if he was wearing iron armor. Even if he was not killed on the spot, his bones and tendons would be broken and his internal organs would be severely damaged.

However, if they keep a distance and shoot at each other, the advantage of the armored cavalry will be very great when it comes to the armored cavalry and the unarmored cavalry.

Huang Zhong's own Bao Diao bow might be powerful enough, and the steel-filled armor-piercing arrows might be able to penetrate the armor, but the ordinary cavalry around Huang Zhong certainly couldn't do it.

As soon as the fight started, Cai Mao's side actually gained a small advantage. Hundreds of arrows were fired at each other, and more than a dozen people fell off their horses on Huang Zhong's side, while only seven or eight fell off their horses on Cai Mao's side, three of whom were killed by Huang Zhong's continuous arrows.

Fortunately, Huang Zhong reacted quickly. He immediately shouted to his subordinates not to fight anymore and charged forward with his sword and lance.

On the battlefield, there was a scene where "light cavalry took the initiative to charge heavy cavalry", which was truly rare since ancient times.

But soon, facts proved that Huang Zhong's judgment was very accurate.

Although his soldiers did not wear armor to save weight, the quality of the weapons in their hands was still significantly inferior to those of the enemy.

The sharp lance, coupled with the high speed and weight of the warhorse, plus the stable impact transmission provided by the double-sided metal stirrups and the high-bridge saddle, even if the enemy has old-style iron armor, they cannot withstand the impact of a head-on shot.

The horse-slaying swords in Liu Bei's camp are all made of fine steel, with exquisite quenching and grinding techniques. They are powerful enough to cut through traditional iron armor.

Huang Zhong's troops suffered dozens of casualties, and after engaging in hand-to-hand combat, the battle soon became a bloody mess.

Both sides have high offense and low defense, and what they are competing for is real martial arts and hard power. As long as they can hit the opponent, they can cause casualties.

Huang Zhong himself shot and killed five or six people with his continuous arrows during the battle, then drew his sword and slashed, killing several cavalrymen in a row, and also chopped off the military commander who was blocking the way. While the enemy cavalrymen were frightened and retreated, Huang Zhong did not care about killing more people, and took the opportunity to kill his way through the formation, and continued to chase Cai Mao straight away.

The cavalrymen around Huang Zhong were caught in a melee, and only dozens of them were able to fight their way out of the gap. However, they were all far behind Huang Zhong, at least several dozen steps away.

Huang Zhong was riding alone, leading the way in chasing Cai Mao.

"Don't run away, you bastard Cai Mao! I will avenge my former master, Lord Jing Sheng, today!"

Huang Zhong shouted loudly, and seeing that Cai Mao was within shooting range, he shot arrows repeatedly, but several arrows were blocked by the chaotic guards and enemy cavalry, and he only killed and injured some insignificant people.

After much difficulty, an arrow hit Cai Mao, but because the distance was too far and Cai Mao's armor was too sophisticated, it was ineffective.

Huang Zhong also wanted to shoot at the back of Cai Mao's thighs, those places that were not protected by armor, but there were too many people blocking Cai Mao's way, so those weaknesses were not exposed at all.

Huang Zhong was in a hurry and suddenly an idea came to his mind. He lowered the aiming position a little.

An arrow was released, like an autumn moon across the sky or a meteor falling to the ground, and it directly hit the unarmored hindquarters of Cai Mao's horse.

Although Cai Mao himself was not directly shot, he was thrown out by the painful horse.

But Cai Mao was also equipped with sophisticated double-sided metal stirrups. With his feet in the stirrups, he could pull himself back even if his body was thrown into the air.

Finally, with a "crack", one of Cai Mao's thighs was broken by the huge force of the warhorse.

"Ah!" Cai Mao couldn't help but scream loudly. One of his thighs was broken. Even if the guards around him were willing to change horses for him, it would be too late for him to escape.

How can a person with a broken leg ride a horse?

In the midst of the chaos, Huang Zhong finally arrived and killed Cai Mao's personal guards with a few swords.

Those personal guards also knew that Cai Mao's situation was hopeless and there was no point in sending themselves to die in vain, so they all fled. More than a hundred cavalrymen were forced to retreat by Huang Zhong alone.

Huang Zhong rushed to Cai Mao and struck him on the head, chopping off his helmet and brain, as he was still screaming over his broken leg and had no time to guard against other dangers.

Cai Mao didn't even have time to scream before his head and body were separated and blood from his neck splattered ten steps away.

The rest of the cavalry who had not yet had time to escape, or the personal guards of Cai Mao who were still fighting with Huang Zhong's troops behind them, soon noticed the changes here, lost their fighting spirit, collapsed and surrendered.

Huang Zhong saw that the situation was completely under control, and he relaxed his mind a little, and soon noticed the pain in several parts of his body.

It turned out that when they broke through the formation just now, both sides had been shooting arrows at each other. Huang Zhong rushed in the front, and even though he tried his best to block and dodge, and even though he had leather armor to protect himself, he still couldn't avoid being hit twice.

Fortunately, the leather armor was smooth and could more or less deflect the deflected arrows, and the power of an ordinary horse bow was not too strong, so the wounds were only minor.

During the fierce battle just now, the adrenaline surged, and the only thing in sight was the target, so people could not feel the pain. As soon as the breath was released, the pain surged immediately.

Huang Zhong knew that this was the extent of today's victory, so he quickly asked his guards to help treat his injuries and then rode his horse back to Bowang.

After finally making it until noon and returning to the city, Huang Zhong immediately asked the army doctor to treat his wounds, and sent scouts back to report the victory to Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu, and also brought back Cai Mao's head.

Huang Zhong finally breathed a sigh of relief when he lay on the sickbed. Before he fell into a deep sleep, he murmured in a low voice:
"Lord Jingsheng, although I have surrendered to the Grand Commandant, I have a clear conscience. I have avenged you today, and the eldest master will surely be pleased when he hears about it."

……

Huang Zhong's scouts took only one day to reach Guan Yu's camp outside Wancheng in the early morning of the next day.
The victory news of taking advantage of the chaos to capture Bowang and beheading Cai Mao was delivered to Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu.

"Report to the Minister of War and General Wei! General Huang Lao followed the Minister of War's orders and spread rumors while Cao Ren's army was fleeing in batches, causing panic among the defenders of Bowang. There was indeed a righteous man named Hou Yin in Bowang County, who led the local auxiliary troops to start an uprising and escort General Huang Lao into the city.

After a night of fierce fighting, General Huang Lao successfully annihilated Cai Mao's troops defending the city, forced the rest of the troops to surrender, and pursued and killed Cai Mao. He ordered us to bring back Cai Mao's head, saying that it might be useful for Master Liu Qi's memorial service."

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu could not help but look at each other. Both of them could see a bit of extra surprise and relief in each other's eyes.

Zhuge Jin's sense of surprise was definitely less than Guan Yu's.

Because he had always thought that there must be other local heroes like Wei Kai in Nanyang County who would resist Cao's rapid and forced relocation of people. It was only natural that so many chain rebellions would eventually break out in various counties.

However, it was Hou Yin who started the rebellion in the end, which was also a historical inertia. Now, ten years have passed since the original battle of Xiang and Fan in history, and Hou Yin has not yet climbed to the position of city lieutenant, and can only be responsible for a part of the auxiliary troops recruited locally.

But if such a person could make a full effort and work together with Huang Zhong, it would be enough to help capture Bowang in one fell swoop, which would be a natural thing.

However, even though Zhuge Jin could predict that there would definitely be other chaos in the counties of Nanyang, with his intelligence, he would never have expected that Huang Zhong would actually take advantage of this battle to kill Cai Mao. This was indeed a pleasant surprise.

Especially in this life, Cai Mao can be said to be the fuse between Cao and Liu in the fight for northern Jing.

Before this, the brothers Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang had been planning for Liu Bei for many years, pushing Liu Bei to the position of Zongbo, and shaping the situation of "Anti-Rebellion Alliance", allowing Liu Bei to become the leader of the alliance and the co-leader of the clan members and Fangbo.

It can be said that if Cai Mao had not murdered Liu Biao, and Liu Biao had naturally transferred the power of Jingbei to Liu Qi, then Liu Bei would definitely have been able to take Jingbei without bloodshed.

Of course, in that case, because Liu Qi took the initiative to surrender peacefully, Liu Bei's control and dispatching potential over Jingbei's territory would certainly not be as strong as it is now. Liu Bei could not make decisions on the internal personnel appointments in Jingbei, and could only inherit and recognize the original vested interests.

Now, after all this trouble, although the war lasted for two years (from April of the 13th year of Jian'an to June of the 14th year of Jian'an), both sides suffered a lot of losses and costs. However, the control of Jingbei, which was fought back by force, was much more thorough.

The Kuai and Cai families were all labeled as "clan thieves" from then on. A considerable number of local aristocratic families that had held Liu Biao hostage were either destroyed or beaten down into submission by the successive attacks of Liu Bei and Cao Cao.

In the future, Liu Bei can use whoever he wants to govern Jingbei without being constrained by others. The Zhuge brothers can also give full play to their planning talents and vigorously implement the personnel and fiscal reforms they want in Jingbei.

In any case, now that Cai Mao is finally dead, this provides a symbolic opportunity for Liu Bei's camp to declare victory in the Jingbei Campaign and avenge Liu Biao.

If Cai Mao had not died, Liu Bei would have simply taken back the prefectures and lands once occupied by Liu Biao, and then announced that he would stop while he was ahead, temporarily suspending the Northern Expedition and continuing to farm and accumulate strength. Then people all over the world might more or less think that Liu Bei started well but ended badly, and was not cautious enough.

But with Cai Mao's death, all this became very logical. Before Liu Bei sent his troops north last year, he swore in front of his soldiers that one of the main purposes of this battle was to avenge Liu Biao. Liu Bei also swore that Cai Mao was the murderer of Liu Biao.

The life of this culprit must, of course, remain on the land of Jingzhou. We must finish the affairs of one state at a time, and we must not allow him to escape to Yuzhou!

Now Cai Mao died in Bowang County, on the way to escape to Yuzhou across Tongbai Mountain. He was shot by Huang Zhong, an old general under Liu Qi, and his horse broke his leg, and then he was beheaded. It can be said that it was retribution.

Everything seems to have a sense of fate and is very valuable for publicity. Such a story of reincarnation will definitely be widely sung among the people.

As long as the propaganda is done properly, in time, more people will feel that "Liu Bei's fight against the rebellion is indeed in accordance with the will of heaven and the people. Those traitors who assisted Cao in his atrocities have indeed received retribution."

After figuring out all these twists and turns, Zhuge Jin immediately made a decision:

Old General Huang Zhong must be rewarded handsomely. Although Cai Mao is not a high-ranking enemy general, his symbolic significance is huge enough to allow Huang Zhong to be promoted to general again and have his fiefdom increased.

And Hou Yin, who opened the gate of Bowang County and returned to China, will also be rewarded heavily, and perhaps even promoted to a higher position and given a higher title than Wei Kai of Rangcheng.

After all, although Bowang County is not worth much, this battle helped Liu Bei's army kill Cai Mao. The publicity value of this is enough to increase the reward by one or two levels.

Zhuge Jin quickly figured out the reward in his mind, and immediately called the chief clerk Deng Zhi, and ordered: "Draft an order in the name of the Minister of the Interior, promoting Hou Yin to the rank of Nanyang Commander, and conferring him the title of Duting Marquis, and report to the lord at the same time.

I also suggest that after the battle of Jingbei, you promote General Huang Lao to the rank of General of the Four Expeditions, on the same level as Gan Xingba and Taishi Ziyi. As for the title, I will not make any suggestions, and the Lord will naturally decide. "

Deng Zhi took the order and immediately followed Zhuge Jin's instructions to prepare the documents, polish them and seal them.

Before the Battle of Jingzhou began, Huang Zhong was only at the level of General Si'an. Later, he defeated Yu Jin in the Battle of Dangyang and was promoted several times for his meritorious service, but there was still a gap between him and the general of Four Expeditions and Four Towns.

In Liu Bei's camp, except for Guan Yu who is the general of guard, Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei who are the general of left and right, the other two of the "new five tiger generals", Taishi Ci and Gan Ning, are only generals of four expeditions. If Huang Zhong can also be promoted to general of four expeditions, he will be on the same level as Taishi Ci and Gan Ning.

(End of this chapter)