Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 244: The Bravery of Ten Thousand Enemies, A Thousand Cavalry Surrounding Ten Thousand People

"Whoosh!"

In the chaos, a spear came through the air and was thrown directly at Guan Yu who was fighting. However, Guan Yu was quick and caught the spear with his bare hands. After scanning the surroundings, Guan Yu threw it back and stabbed the fierce enemy soldier to death.

"Pfft!"

Guan Yu swung his sword to knock down the enemy soldiers, and clashed with Zhang Fei and dozens of cavalry in the formation. Under the frontal attack of the Bingzhou infantry, the front of the Guanxi army gradually became chaotic.

"Yide retreat!"

After fighting in the battle array for a while, Guan Yu was pierced by more than ten arrows. Moreover, as he had lost the mobility of his horse, Guanxi infantrymen with spears kept coming to surround and kill him.

"it is good!"

Zhang Fei used his spear to knock an enemy soldier flying, adjusted his horse's head, and charged towards the Gaoping army with Guan Yu. Because the enemy soldiers along the way turned their backs to Guan and Zhang, wherever they went, Guan and Zhang led dozens of cavalrymen wielding swords and spears to charge, causing many enemy soldiers casualties and causing considerable chaos.

The Gaoping infantrymen attacked fiercely in front of the Guanxi infantrymen, and Guan and Zhang led their cavalrymen to attack from behind. In an instant, several rows of enemy soldiers in the front were thrown into chaos, and the Gaoping infantrymen bravely charged and drove the defeated army forward.

After returning to the army, Guan and Zhang led the cavalry back to the water and checked the wounds of the enemy. Seeing that there were no fatal injuries, Guan and Zhang led dozens of cavalry to continue fighting. The two men imitated what they had just done, first using spears to break the formation, then trampling into the formation while the chaos was going on, and then fighting their way out of the formation.

After three rounds of fighting, the armors of the cavalrymen were full of arrows, and they looked like hedgehogs from a distance. Fortunately, they were wearing double armors to charge into the battle, otherwise not only would the cavalrymen be hard to survive, but even the brave generals like Guan and Zhang would probably be killed. Even with the protection of heavy armor, only half of the dozens of cavalrymen who followed Guan and Zhang to charge into the battle survived.

Seeing that Guan and Zhang had disrupted the enemy's formation with only dozens of cavalry, Man Chong, who was commanding his soldiers to chase and kill the troops from Guanxi, could not help but admire them.

"Your Excellency said that Guan and Zhang have the courage of tigers and bears and the bravery to fight against ten thousand enemies. Now, it seems that what you said is true!"

As he spoke, Man Chong said to his men, "Guan and Zhang Yonglue are in the front, disrupting the enemy's formation for our army. How can our soldiers be inferior to them? Now we should make a concerted effort to defeat the bandits!"

"promise!"

Taking advantage of the chaos, the Bingzhou warriors chased after them, and the Guanxi infantry retreated again and again, making the army formation even more chaotic and the generals kept shouting.

Seeing the front troops in disarray, Fan Chou personally led his troops forward, hoping to rally them with his bravery and prestige. Now the elite quality of the Guanxi Army was revealed, and under Fan Chou's command, he led the rear troops to re-establish their positions, and the defeated front troops, under the guidance of the officers, retreated to the rear and re-formed their ranks.

Seeing this, Man Chong frowned. He had hoped to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, but Fan Chou's re-deployment interrupted his plan. If he wanted to defeat Fan Chou's troops now, he had to prepare for battle. If he couldn't defeat the enemy now, he would be in a fierce battle again when Li Jue sent troops to support him.

Man Chong said: "Organize the troops and ask Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to lead the cavalry to break through the enemy's formation and try to defeat the enemy."

"promise!"

In order to defeat Fan Chou, Man Chong had to reorganize his troops and let Guan and Zhang make another attack.

When the army was being assembled, they saw smoke and dust billowing on the mountain behind the Guanxi army, the sound of horses' hooves was loud, and a "Lu" flag was fluttering in the wind.

As for the sudden appearance of the army, Man Chong could not see the approaching army because the distance was too far, and he could only squint and watch. Thinking of the large number of soldiers in Guanxi, Man Chong secretly sighed how could the enemy support so quickly!
When Man Chong was worried, a cavalryman under Zhang Liao's command came galloping and shouted, "Captain Man, Lü Fengxian has led his cavalry to kill him and is about to attack Fan Chou from both sides. General Zhang ordered the captain to send troops to respond."

"Lu Fengxian?"

Man Chong was stunned for a moment, and asked in surprise: "Why did Lü Fengxian appear behind the enemy?"

The scout replied truthfully, "Before your Excellency deployed the battle array, you sent Lü Bu and his 800 elite cavalry to hide in the reeds 20 miles away. When your Excellency raised the blue and red flags, it was the signal to dispatch the troops. Now they will cooperate with our army to attack Fan Chou from both sides."

"Ha ha!"

Man Chong was overjoyed, and all his worries were gone. He shouted, "Order the infantry to advance and attack Fan Chou's troops from both sides."

"promise!"

It would be too difficult to rely on Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to defeat Fan Chou's army. Zhang Yu's real backup was not Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, but Lu Bu, on whom he had high hopes.

The purpose of Guan and Zhang's trap formation was to create local chaos and help the infantry to repel the enemy. When Lu Bu led the elite cavalry to attack, the left army's infantry and cavalry would be mixed and would be able to inflict heavy damage on Fan Chou's troops.

As for why Man Chong didn't know, it was mainly because Zhang Yu was worried about the secret being leaked, and the only people who knew that he had arranged the ambush were his close confidants such as Zhang Liao and Li Song.

Now not only Man Chong learned about it, but Guan and Zhang also regained their spirits and prepared to charge at the same time as Lu Bu attacked.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of passionate war drums spread throughout the left army. Zhang Liao had already ordered a fierce attack, striving to attack Fan Chou from the front and back with Lu Bu before Li Jue sent troops to support him.

"kill!"

Lu Bu led eight hundred elite cavalrymen and galloped towards Fan Chou's flag.

When Lü Bu led the cavalry to charge, the cavalrymen of the Guanxi army came forward to join the battle. However, Lü Bu ignored the enemy cavalry and instead targeted the Guanxi troops who were regrouping after their defeat.

Eight hundred elite cavalrymen, led by Lu Bu, Wei Xu, Song Xian, Cao Xing, Hou Cheng and other generals each led a hundred cavalrymen, and charged diagonally from different directions, first approaching on horseback and shooting, then charging on horseback, and slamming into the still somewhat chaotic formation, smashing the enemy formation that was in the process of organizing its troops into pieces.

Thousands of soldiers and horses in the enemy camp were thrown into chaos by the impact, and the soldiers and officers fled in all directions without any desire to fight. When the Guanxi cavalry saw Lu Bu charging into their own army, they became hesitant, fearing that their charge would make the situation even more chaotic.

After dispersing the assembled Guanxi army, Lu Bu ignored the Guanxi cavalry who were watching the show, but continued to exert his strength, aiming at the back of Fan Chou's troops.

Beforehand, Fan Chou placed his elite troops at the front and neglected the arrangements for the troops in the rear. His soldiers not only had no armor, but also had very few large shields.

The next moment, Lu Bu was seen charging forward himself, leading a hundred cavalrymen to charge straight into the battle formation.

When the cavalry shot arrows, the Guanxi soldiers screamed and fell dead one after another.

Wei Xu, Song Xian, Hou Cheng and other generals followed closely behind him, leading their cavalry to pass diagonally. In a short period of time, thousands of arrows fell into the crowd. The Guanxi soldiers who were in the formation had no power to resist and soon dispersed under Lu Bu's charge.

In just a few breaths, Lü Bu led 800 cavalrymen to break into Fan Chou's formation from the back. Their momentum was so swift that the 800 cavalrymen almost broke through the formation. Wherever Lü Bu passed, the enemy soldiers along the way fled without any thought of resisting stubbornly.

"withdraw!"

Seeing that his troops were suddenly caught in a pincer attack, Fan Chou was terrified. Although he didn't know why the enemy cavalry appeared behind him, his priority now was to escape.

After Fan Chou fled with his cronies, Guan and Zhang led their cavalry to cross the line, fighting and attacking along the way, and even joined up with the cavalry led by Lu Bu. Man Chong led his infantry to pursue them, driving the fleeing Guanxi soldiers back to their camp.

Seeing the flags of Fan Chou's troops fall, Zhang Liao knew that Fan Chou had been defeated by Lü Bu's attack from behind. In order to expand his advantage on the battlefield, Zhang Liao did not lead his cavalry to chase and kill Fan Chou, but handed over the command of the infantry to Man Chong, and he gathered 500 elite cavalry.

In front of the five hundred cavalrymen, Zhang Liao walked slowly with a spear in hand, and said in a deep voice: "The central army is deeply involved in the fierce battle. If our cavalrymen can charge in and kill, they will be able to help the central army and defeat the bandits!"

"Come with me!"

Zhang Liao pointed his long spear forward, and five hundred cavalrymen galloped forward.

Now if we look down from the sky, we can see that Fan Chou's troops were being defeated continuously because they were attacked from both the front and the back, and the flank of Guo Si's troops was exposed because of Fan Chou's defeat.

Zhang Liao and his five hundred cavalrymen first rushed forward, then changed direction and charged sideways, like a sharp knife stabbing directly into the ribs of Guo Si's troops.

The next moment, Guo Si's troops might not have expected that Zhang Liao would suddenly lead his cavalry to cross. Just before the charge, hundreds of arrows rose from the formation and whizzed into Zhang Liao's cavalry, trying to stop Zhang Liao's charge.

However, the hundred cavalrymen leading the charge were all wearing heavy armor, and the arrows could not penetrate the armor, but only pierced the cloth armor. And the horses being hit by arrows not only did not slow down the horses, but instead stimulated their ferocity.

"Swoosh!" In order to break through the thin spear formation on the flank, Zhang Liao led his cavalry to throw short spears. Hundreds of short spears hit the thin spear formation, which soon caused panic and left a gap of moderate size.

"rush!"

In an instant, Zhang Liao seized the opportunity and charged forward with his spear.

The sound of spears piercing human bodies, the collision of weapons and armor, the neighing of war horses. Five hundred cavalrymen rushed into the Guanxi army like a huge wave hitting the shore.

Zhang Liao cut in horizontally, wielding his long spear and killing several people in succession. If the long spear got stuck, he would draw out his ring-handled sword and hack and kill the enemy soldiers in the army formation.

Suddenly encountered a charge by the trapped cavalry, the soldiers of Guanxi were unable to resist. Zhang Liao broke through more than ten of their formations at once, galloping across the formation as if he was in an empty space, and almost cut Guo Si's troops in two.

When Zhang Liao charged into Guo Si's formation, Zhang Yu raised his spear high and shouted to his left and right, "The soldiers of the Yunzhong Army will ride out to the right flank, and the cavalry of the Huguo Army will follow me to attack directly and take Guo Si and Li Ying."

Guo Tu grabbed Zhang Yu's reins and worriedly advised: "Now that the situation is gradually settled, why do you need to charge into the battle? It is better to let Captain Zhao do the fighting!"

Zhang Yu said sternly: "Although the enemy's left army was defeated, most of them are still there. If I don't lead the troops to attack, how can I let the soldiers and officers of the army fight so hard?"

As he spoke, Zhang Yu shook off Guo Tu's hand, led more than ten riders and joined the thousand riders of the National Protection Army.

"rush!"

Zhang Yu led his cavalry out from the left, aiming at the chaotic Guo Si's troops, while Li Song and Shi Yi went out from the right to contain the Guanxi cavalry and cooperate with the right army in the battle.

Zhang's big banner rushed forward, instantly causing a heated response from the generals.

"The Lord is personally on the battlefield!"

Gao Shun drew out his sword and shouted at the top of his lungs, "The time has come to defeat the enemy!"

"kill!"

While the morale of Gao Shun's troops soared, the nearby Xu Chu's troops also underwent some changes.

Xu Chu wiped the blood off his face, and seeing Zhang Yu leading the charge, he threw away his helmet and shouted, "Your Excellency is charging into battle, how can we fall behind?"

"kill!"

Xu Chu took out a short spear and threw it to kill several people, then led his troops to charge forward.

"The Lord has set out to fight!"

As Zhang Yu's banner continued to advance, the cavalrymen who followed Zhang Liao in the army saw the banner marching at high speed and their morale increased greatly. They urged their horses to charge and wielded their ring-handled swords to kill the enemy soldiers.

Zhang Yu's mount, Wutiyun, was very fast. Not long after, he led his cavalry past the position where Zhang Liao was charging and went straight to the rear of Guo Si's troops, intending to give them a final blow.

"Whoosh!"

Zhang Yu was the first to draw his bow and shot the arrow in his hand, killing an enemy soldier.

After drawing the bow, arrows flew into the air from the National Defense Cavalry, shooting the Guanxi soldiers outside the general's formation, causing them to wail continuously.

Soon, Zhao Yun led more than a hundred armored cavalry to charge in order to clear the way for Zhang Yu.

The armored cavalry charged in unison like a steel torrent. Because the momentum was so terrifying, the Guanxi infantry had no intention of stopping them and fled backwards one after another.

"Pfft!"

Zhao Yun stabbed the enemy soldier's chest with his lance, then drew out the lance and rushed forward along with the cavalry, like an axe splitting the waves. The soldiers of the Guanxi army lost the courage to fight in formation and could not even organize a resistance.

In an instant, Zhang Yu led his troops deep into the enemy formation and almost cut through Guo Si's troops.

After the cavalry of Zhang Liao and Zhang Yu's armies cut in, Guo Si's troops were divided into three parts.

The front had already been routed under the fierce attack of Xu Chu and Gao Shun; Zhang Liao rushed straight into the army formation, causing panic among the soldiers in the center; the rear was broken by Zhang Yu, and the soldiers entangled each other and fled to the rear.

Now Guo Si was caught between the two hostile forces of Zhang Yu and Zhang Liao. He swung his sword at the attendants holding flags in the rear and shouted, "Beat the drums, wave the flags!"

"If the central army holds its ground and gets support from the main army, we can turn defeat into victory!"

Guo Si was different from other generals in Guanzhong. If Fan Chou was defeated and fled, he might have had a chance to survive by surrendering to Zhang Yu. However, he and Li Jue were on Zhang Yu's kill list. If he was defeated now, he would surely die.

In order to survive, Guo Si had to hold on tenaciously, hoping that Li Jue would lead a large army to counterattack and defeat Zhang Yu.

The military flags swayed left and right, and the war drums suddenly beat faster!

Guo Si was Dong Zhuo's confidant, and the troops he led were the best in Guanxi. After entering Chang'an, he annexed many troops. Therefore, even if the situation is critical, he still has a group of troops around him.

However, even if the troops could be gathered around Guo Si, it is worth pondering whether these troops can be used and whether they are willing to fight to the death for Guo Si.
When Guo Si was gathering the surrounding troops, he heard a loud noise and a crowd of people rolling in front of him!

The next moment, the fleeing soldiers, driven by Zhang Liao, rushed towards Guo Si's troops. The troops that Guo Si had gathered with great difficulty retreated under the pressure of the defeated army.

Seeing this, Guo Si felt timid as his followers were decreasing, and wanted to retreat. However, Zhang Yu led his troops to Guo Si's escape route, cutting off his escape route.

When Guo Si was in panic, Zhang Liao led more than a hundred cavalrymen to charge in front of him.

For a moment, the infantry along the way did not dare to stop Zhang Liao's army and fled in all directions.

"go!"

When the attendant saw Zhang Liao approaching with a spear in hand, he called out to Guo Si, "General, hurry up!"

Guo Si reacted and fled in another direction with his attendants, but because there were too many escapees along the way, it took a lot of time.

"Guo Si will die!"

After a while, there was a loud shout from behind. Guo Si was frightened. When he turned around, he saw Zhang Liao chasing him on horseback in the direction of his escape.

"Pfft!"

In the blink of an eye, Guo Si was caught up by Zhang Liao. The two men clashed with their spears, and Guo Si was stabbed to death by Zhang Liao's spear!
"General Zhang Wenyuan has killed Guo Si!"

With the death of Guo Si, Zhang Liao's followers cheered loudly and praised the martial arts of their leader.

Upon hearing that Guo Si was dead, Zhang Yu laughed and said, "Guo Si is dead, Li Jue has lost an arm, our army will win!"

As he spoke, Zhang Yu pointed his spear at Li Ying's troops and said in a deep voice, "Help the right army defeat the enemy, and the whole army advance!"

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)