Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 371: Victory and Defeat
"Who is on the mountain?"

When Zhang He reached the Qingshan Road entrance, he suddenly saw some figures gathering on the hill on his left. However, as the sun was setting, Zhang He shielded his eyes from the sun with his hands and squinted to look.

"And the flags of the army?"

Xin Ping had good eyesight and said, "There seems to be a general under the banner, holding a flag and dispatching troops."

Zhang He was stunned and said, "The troops of the Bing army were ambushed by our army. The troops of each army are in a panic. How can we mobilize the troops now?"

Xin Ping thought of something, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Could it be that the reinforcements from the Bing army have arrived?"

"Reinforcements?"

Hearing this, Zhang He suddenly remembered something. He had planned to lure the Bing army out of Qingshan in order to defeat the troops that came to rescue Zhang Yan. He had previously heard that Li Song was leading 10,000 people out of the mountain pass, so he led 8,000 troops to fight against him.

If his intelligence was wrong, or he had not obtained enough information, the current situation would be completely different. If Zhang Yu personally led the army to rescue, and Li Song was the vanguard of the army, he defeated the vanguard Li Song, and now he has pursued to this intersection, could he have encountered Zhang Yu's army?
"Mr. Xin thinks that Zhang Yu may be leading a large army behind us!" Zhang He said.

"not sure!"

Xin Ping hesitated and said, "Deng Qiu held the flag to mobilize troops, and his troops must be at least 5,000. Even if Zhang Yu did not come in person, there may be other generals to help."

After a pause, Xin Ping said, "Or maybe Li Song is just bluffing."

"Hmm~"

Zhang He looked straight at the hills and said, "When we lifted the siege of Shangdang, Li Song used the strategy of bluffing. Now we are ambushed and the army is in danger of being annihilated. He may use the strategy of bluffing again."

Seeing that hundreds of cavalrymen dismounted to rest and did not participate in the battle, Xin Ping became more and more puzzled and said, "The enemy cavalry is resting, so we might as well send troops to provoke them. If the enemy is afraid of our army and flees, it will be a tactic to confuse the enemy; if the enemy is not afraid and advances, it may be that reinforcements are behind."

"good!"

Zhang He thought about it for a while, and then told his men, "Send a message to Ban Yong, and have him lead his troops to attack the enemy troops on the hill."

"As ordered!"

As the command flag was waving, Ban Yong led two thousand men to charge towards the hills. The infantry marched in line with a very strict formation.

The general on the hill leading the troops was none other than Zhao Yun, who had just come with his cavalry. Now Zhao Yun was under the general's banner, deliberately pointing and making gestures, as if a large number of troops were under his command.

Seeing the troops marching towards the hills, many of the cavalrymen who had dismounted and sat on the ground panicked. Cavalry General Zhao Lie turned to Zhao Yun and said worriedly, "General, the enemy is leading a large number of troops to attack us. The situation is critical. Should we mount our horses?"

"Not urgent!"

Zhao Yun stood with his sword in hand, showing no fear at all, and said to the waiting riders, "Dismount and return, pretending to pass on the order."

The cavalry officer responded loudly, as if he really wanted to convey the military order.

As Ban Yong's troops continued to approach the hill, the dismounted cavalry remained motionless, which was beyond the expectations of Zhang He and Xin Ping.

"what happened?"

Xin Ping looked confused and said, "Our army is about to reach the foot of the hill, but the enemy cavalry neither uses force nor withdraws. What does this mean?"

Compared to Xin Ping, who knew nothing about military affairs, Zhang He's expression suddenly became serious. He said, "Order Ban Yong to stop and form a battle array, and send scouts to explore the hills. If there is anything wrong, lead the army to withdraw quickly!"

"The enemy is only a few hundred, and now they are unarmed. Why are they stopping?" Xin Ping asked.

Zhang He explained: "The enemy is maneuvering on the hill, with only a few hundred cavalry under their command. They are neither panicking nor engaging in battle. I'm afraid they are using this as bait to lure our army into an attack, and the ambush troops suddenly appear and kill us."

"General Zhang is good at understanding the situation!" Xin Ping exclaimed.

With Zhang He's military order, Ban Yong's troops finally stopped, and at this time they were less than two miles away from the cavalry.

When Ban Yong's troops stopped, Zhao Yun, who was standing on the hill, looked down and saw that the Ji army was out of touch and their formation was a little messy. He decisively said, "Beat the drums and attack!"

"promise!"

"Dong Dong~"

The cowhide drum was struck, and the sound echoed through the mountains. The cavalrymen who had dismounted to rest received the signal and immediately jumped back on their horses. Zhao Yun was already holding a spear and riding a horse, charging down the hill with his spear as his weapon.

With Zhao Yun leading the way, five hundred elite cavalrymen followed on horseback, with great momentum and rushing like lightning, towards the two thousand infantrymen at the foot of the hill.

While Zhao Yun was charging, Li Song and Hao Zhao received the signal and led their troops to fight hard. Hu Yanle divided the cavalry into several groups and entangled the Ji cavalry tightly.

The distance was less than two miles, and it only took a few breaths for the cavalry to gallop. Zhao Yun led the cavalry to the front of the formation, and the cavalry suddenly split into two teams, encircling Ban Yong's infantry from the left and right. Zhao Yun went around the front of the square formation, aiming directly at the rear.

too fast!
The cavalry led by Zhao Yun were the elite cavalry of the National Protection Army, and they all rode top-quality horses. When they attacked the rear formation today, they charged too fast and too fiercely, leaving the soldiers behind them suddenly at a loss. They could only change direction temporarily, or raise their spears or hold bows and crossbows.

Looking at the sparse forest of spears, Zhao Yun was not afraid at all and charged forward with his bow.

As the first wave of cavalry, Zhao Yun faced the most arrows. However, relying on his thick armor, Zhao Yun braved the rain of arrows and rode his horse twenty steps closer. He drew his bow and shot an arrow at the face of a spear-wielding enemy soldier.

"Hiss~" Zhao Yun was hit by several arrows during the exchange of fire, and one of them pierced his armor from the back and entered his body, causing him to gasp. But Zhao Yun quickly recovered, ignored the pain, and led his cavalry in a circle, following the third wave of cavalry.

With Zhao Yun personally braving the arrows, the next two waves of cavalry faced much fewer arrows, allowing them to approach the army more calmly and then shoot arrows. Sharp arrows streaked through the sky, crackling and hitting the soldiers guarding the formation, causing them to wail incessantly.

When it was Zhao Yun's turn again, seeing that the formation was in chaos, Zhao Yun seized the opportunity, abandoned his bow and took up his spear, and broke into the formation.

The soldiers in the formation suffered many casualties in an instant under the rain of arrows, so even though they were holding spears, they couldn't help but feel timid when they saw Zhao Yun charging. Especially when they saw the tall knight on horseback charging fearlessly, the soldiers of the Ji army became more and more afraid.

When the cavalry was about to collide, the Ji army soldiers did not dare to resist with their bodies, so they fled to the sides to avoid the cavalry that broke into the formation. As a result, Zhao Yun's troops easily broke through the formation and fought with the fleeing soldiers, throwing the general formation into chaos.

At the same time, another cavalry unit that went around the flank, under the influence of Zhao Yun's troops breaking the formation, tore through the Ji army's formation from the other side, and as the cavalry on both sides gradually advanced, they almost broke through Ban Yong's troops.

Zhao Yun fought left and right, charging forward recklessly, and almost no one in the formation could stop him.

Ban Yong was furious when he saw the defeat of his troops. He said, "Follow me to surround and kill the enemy generals and defeat the enemy cavalry!"

As he said this, Ban Yong led his troops to look for Zhao Yun, and soon found Zhao Yun's whereabouts.

Seeing the enemy coming in full force, Zhao Yun stabbed the infantry to death, then rode out on his horse and arrived in front of Ban Yong in the blink of an eye.

Ban Yong's face was ferocious, and he stabbed towards Zhao Yun's heart. But Zhao Yun used his spear to strike, knocking Ban Yong's spear away. Then, in front of Ban Yong's horrified eyes, he swung his iron whip with his left hand and smashed Ban Yong's head. Ban Yong fell off his horse with a thud, his helmet was dented, blood was flowing from all his orifices, and he fell to the ground, not knowing whether he was dead or alive.

Zhao Yun killed Ban Yong with one move, which made all his subordinates and infantrymen in awe.

"I will only kill Zhang He, the rest of you must retreat immediately!"

Zhao Yun's armor was stained with blood. He held a spear in one hand and a whip in the other. His eyes were full of murderous intent. The enemy soldiers in front of him were shouting angrily, as if he was the Tai Sui of the world.

Seeing that the Ji army soldiers were afraid, Zhao Yun showed great courage and led dozens of cavalrymen to march straight ahead. Along the way, the Ji army soldiers and horses saw Zhao Yun and fled, allowing Zhao Yun to break through the formation.

Zhao Yun broke out of the battle formation and recalled the Ji army's flag he saw on the hill, so he turned around and rushed directly to kill Zhang He.

"Zhao Zilong of Changshan is here!"

"Where is Zhang Junyi of Hejian?"

Zhao Yun rode a white horse, holding a spear and shouting. His majestic appearance greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers.

Seeing Zhao Yun rushing out of the battle array, with more than ten arrows sticking out of his body, shouting his name, he ran straight to the center of the army. He looked like a killing god. As a scholar, Xin Ping had never seen such a movement before, and he couldn't help but feel fear.

"General Zhang, Zhao Yun is a cavalry general under Zhang Yu. Now he is leading the cavalry to charge into the battle line. Zhang Yu must be not far away. Our army can retreat!" Xin Ping said nervously.

"withdraw!"

Zhang He dispatched most of his troops to hunt down Li Song. At the moment, there were not many troops in the central army, so when he saw Zhao Yun charging fearlessly, Zhang He was not as afraid as Xin Ping, but he was worried about Zhang Yu who was behind Zhao Yun.

Zhang He hesitated, fearing that if he did not withdraw his troops, he would be entangled by the majority of the combined forces, so he ordered a withdrawal.

"withdraw!"

Zhang He called out to his men to sound the horn, signaling the troops to withdraw. Zhao Yun saw the Ji army withdrawing and was worried that he would be surrounded by the withdrawing Ji army, so he changed his target and chased after the remaining soldiers of Ban Yong.

As the gong sounded, the troops of the Ji army retreated like a tide. The Bing army was unwilling to see the Ji army retreat peacefully, so Li Song, Hao Zhao, Hu Yanle, Zhao Yun and other generals led their own troops to chase and kill them, chasing them for ten miles from Qingshankou until it was dark and it was difficult to distinguish between the enemy and us. Then the two armies withdrew.

Under the cover of night, Zhang He looked at the soldiers marching tiredly on the road, and thought about what had happened today, feeling a little distracted.

Today's plan to ambush and kill Li Song was originally smooth sailing. He and Xin Ping both celebrated the great victory over the Bing army. Unexpectedly, Zhao Yun showed up later. If Zhao Yun hadn't led his troops, he would have been able to annihilate the 10,000-man Bing army at Qingshankou. However, due to the subsequent troops, he had to order a withdrawal.

The battle was won at first but then lost, which really made him speechless. Should he blame him for not thinking carefully, or was it because the combined forces were too brave?

"General Zhang!"

"Nakaji?"

Seeing Xin Ping coming back from counting the number of people, Zhang He asked with a worried look on his face, "How many soldiers and horses did we lose?"

Xin Ping shook his head and said, "There were nearly 2,000 soldiers in the ambush, but they were entangled with the Bing army and most of them were captured by the Bing army. Ban Yong's 2,000 soldiers were defeated by Zhao Yun's cavalry, and only a few hundred escaped. Now I have carefully calculated that half of our soldiers have been lost."

"Where are the enemy?" Zhang He asked.

"It's hard to estimate, probably about the same as our army's losses!" Xin Ping said.

Zhang He smiled bitterly and said, "We lost a lot of soldiers in this battle. Do you think we won? Or were we defeated?"

Hearing this, Xin Ping knew what Zhang He was thinking and said, "General, you have killed many prisoners, but only because you encountered a large part of the enemy army did Li Song lead his troops to escape, so this is a victory, not a defeat. Moreover, the army is just beginning to fight, so it is necessary to boost morale. If I don't report the victory now, I am afraid it will not meet your wishes."

"Let's do as the military advisor says!" Zhang He said, feeling a little relieved.

(End of this chapter)