Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 385: Kill Yan Liang first, then Wen Chou

On the bank of the Hutuo River, a team of several thousand people was escorting grain carts, with a total of more than a thousand vehicles of all sizes. However, there were only a thousand infantry and cavalry escorts, and the leading general was drowsy. If you look closely, you can see that the defense is quite loose.

The Ji army scouts lay in the bushes, observing the grain team for a long time. Seeing nothing unusual, they waved to someone to notify Yan Liang.

More than ten miles away from the grain carts, thousands of infantry and cavalry took off their saddles and sat on the ground, with the "Wen" flag fluttering in the wind. Under the general's flag, Wen Chou paced with his armor on and his sword in hand, sometimes looking into the distance, sometimes frowning.

While Wen Chou was watching, a fast horse came galloping over. When he was a few steps away from Wen Chou, he dismounted and walked away, clasping his hands and saying, "General, there are traces of enemy food carts more than ten miles ahead."

"How about it?"

Wen Chou held the scout's arm and asked with concern, "How is the enemy's defense?"

The scout said, "There are over a thousand grain carts, over two thousand laborers transporting them, and a thousand infantry and cavalry guarding along the way. However, the escort troops are lax and have no idea where our army is moving."

"it is good!"

Wen Chou was overjoyed and said, "There are thousands of grain carts, large and small. The enemy army is transporting at least 30,000 dan of grain this time. If we can burn it successfully, the enemy army will be without food for a month!"

"Congratulations, General!"

Lu Xiang said happily: "The enemy has no food to eat, so they will retreat to Jingxing. Our army will follow their lead and defeat them."

"Not urgent!"

Wen Chou was not overwhelmed by joy, but calmed down, waved his hand and said: "I will lead a thousand elite cavalry first, and Zhong Fei will lead two thousand infantry to follow."

"As ordered!"

Lu Xiang agreed without saying a word, and then he saw the left and right lieutenants exchanged glances, hesitated for a moment, lowered his voice, and said: "General, our soldiers have not been rewarded for several months. If we can defeat the combined army now, can we allow the soldiers to~"

Wen Chou had his horse brought over, took the reins and mounted, whipped his horse and pointed forward, laughing and saying, "Defeat the Bing army and share the food and supplies."

"Thank you, General!"

The morale of the soldiers soared and their desire to fight increased.

Soon, Wen Chou assembled a thousand cavalrymen and headed for the grain train. Lu Xiang reorganized his army and led the infantrymen to follow the cavalrymen. In order to prevent others from snatching all the baggage, the infantrymen marched at a very fast speed.

A distance of more than ten miles is not far. In later times, it is only five kilometers. It only takes half an hour for cavalry to run, and an hour for infantry to walk fast.

Therefore, not long after, the Bing army escorting the grain carts saw the cavalry led by Wen Chou from afar, and all the soldiers and civilians were terrified.

"Enemy attack!"

"Whoosh!"

Not long after the warning sounded, an arrow broke through the air and shot directly at the grain cart, its wings still vibrating.

Seeing this, the civilians were the first to panic and did not dare to move forward. Instead, they took advantage of the soldiers' inattention and quickly fled to both sides. With the first person, there was a second person, and even more people. The soldiers could not stop them at all, and even the soldiers were afraid to retreat.

"withdraw!"

Seeing that Wen Chou was coming with great force and the enemy had several thousand infantry and cavalry, Du Chang, who was in charge of transporting grain, became very panicked and rode away.

"Throw the money in the car onto the ground!"

"hurry up!"

Before leaving, Du Chang was smart. In order to distract the Ji cavalry, he ordered the soldiers to expose the money and cloth carried on the carts, and also discarded them along the way.

"Escape!"

When the Ji cavalry generals reached the grain carts, a large number of Bingzhou soldiers and civilians were already fleeing, shouting and running, and the country was in chaos.

Seeing this scene, Wen Chou laughed with his whip in his hand and said, "Li Song is really incompetent. He chose a coward to transport the grain. He abandoned the grain and fled without firing a single arrow."

While Wen Chou was delighted, his cavalrymen chased for a while. Seeing the gold and silver scattered on the ground and the carts full of cloth, they were all jealous. After all, as elite troops, they might not lack food, but they lacked money!
Within a few breaths, you can see people getting off their horses to pick up the gold and silver on the ground, secretly hiding them in their arms, and moving the cloth on the ground and piling it on the horse's back.

Wen Chou wanted to scold his subordinates, but after a quick look, he saw that all the soldiers and civilians were fleeing, so he gave up the idea of scolding them and simply let his troops disperse to avoid conflicts among the soldiers over money.

When the Ji army was fighting for property, several riders suddenly appeared on a mound several miles to the south and saw the whole farce happening in the grain team.

"Although Wen Chou is known for his bravery, he is not strict in his rule. Yuan Shao appointed him as a general, but he did not know how to judge people!"

Li Song couldn't help but shake his head and said, "Compared to Zhang He, Wen Chou is far inferior!"

The prohibition of looting during wartime was written into the military law of the Bing army. In the past, arrogant soldiers who violated this order were all executed. Li Song might not be the best in military strategy, but he inherited Zhang Yu's style in commanding troops. Under his rule, the Yunzhong army obeyed orders. If the troops were not elite, Li Song would have been defeated when facing Zhang He's pursuit last time, not to mention the victory at Qingshankou.

"The military discipline of Wen Chou's troops is loose now. We should take advantage of their disorganization and lead our cavalry to attack and kill Wen Chou!" Man Chong said concisely and directly.

Li Song glanced at Man Chong and thought to himself, "Although Man Boning is cruel in his military management, his military strategy is indeed outstanding. No wonder Xu Huang was willing to be under Man Chong's command when he was fighting against Ma Teng in the past, and now he is even more valued by you. If I can capture Wen Chou this time, I can recommend him to you. It's a pity that he is not a general now and doesn't control a region!"

Li Song's strategy was to use grain carts to lure Yuan's army out of the camp for plunder, while Man Chong's strategy was to have the soldiers scatter gold and silver on the ground when they fled.

After thinking about it, Li Song pointed forward with his whip and said, "Wen Chou is in front of us now. Who dares to lead the cavalry to kill him for me?"

"I'd love to go!"

"Go ahead and do what you wish for!"

"I am willing to go!"

Ma Chao, Yan Xing and Hu Yanle rode forward and challenged Li Song to a fight. Yan Xing saw Ma Chao trying to take the credit and reminded him, "Ma Mengqi, when I killed Yan Liang, I gave the credit to you. Now that you have killed Wen Chou, how dare you take the credit from me again?"

Hearing this, Ma Chao retreated in anger, saying, "I am now serving as a follower to repay Yan Ming for his service in the past."

Seeing this, Li Song did not hesitate and said, "Ma Chao and Yan Xing will each lead 400 elite cavalry to attack and kill Wen Chou, and Hu Yanle will lead 800 cavalry to attack Yuan's infantry directly."

"As ordered!"

Although he was not able to kill Wen Chou, Hu Yanle was already satisfied with the achievement of defeating an infantryman alone.

The three generals retreated from the hill, each summoned their cavalry and led them in battle.

After a while, thousands of horsemen came out from the woods, with a mighty momentum and the sound of their hooves was frightening.

In order to successfully ambush Wen Chou, Li Song led 3,000 elite infantry and cavalry to follow the grain cart. But when Wen Chou attacked, Li Song only had half of his elite troops, and the other half were still on the way, so he could only let half of his troops launch the attack first.

As the Bing cavalry launched the charge, the Ji cavalry who were picking up property soon learned of the situation. Everyone was shocked. They did not expect that after driving away the Bing troops guarding the grain carts, there was another Bing cavalry attacking at this time.

Wen Chou was confused. The Bing army suddenly appeared here. Could it be that they had already guessed what he did? If they guessed what he did, wouldn't it mean that he had fallen into a trap? Wen Chou suddenly felt cold all over and worried.

In order to get the cavalry ready for battle, Wen Chou quickly waved his whip and whipped the dismounted cavalry, saying urgently: "Hurry up and mount your horses! The Bing army is coming!"

"嘘嘚~"

The Yuan army was aware of the Bingqi's attack. The Yuan cavalry that was close to them could still follow Wen Chou's command, but the Yuan cavalry that was far away was at a loss. Many of them had no intention of fighting, but took the gold and silver away directly. After all, you can only spend money if you are alive.

"kill!"

In order to repay the favor that Yan Xing had shown him, Ma Chao rode his horse and held a spear in front, shouting, "Ma Mengqi is here, where is Wen Chou?"

"Ma Chao!"

Seeing that it was Ma Chao who killed Yan Liang who was shouting, even though Wen Chou wanted to avenge Yan Liang, he did not dare to face Ma Chao's charge because his cavalry were scattered outside. Instead, he retreated slightly, wanting to gather his cavalry on both sides and wait for the arrival of the infantry led by Lu Xiang.

Ma Chao led 400 cavalrymen to charge into the battle formation, killing Yuan's cavalrymen and throwing them into chaos.

With Ma Chao attracting Yuan's army, Yan Xing, who was leading the cavalry behind, observed the situation and spotted Wen Chou gathering his followers at a glance, and immediately led his cavalry to charge forward.

"Where is Wen Chou?"

While galloping, Yan Xing, because his horse was fast, was the first to enter the battle alone. He held a spear and shouted, trying to find Wen Chou among the crowd.

"At this!"

A brave Yuan cavalryman roared forward, wanting to kill Yan Xing for merit. Yan Xing was not afraid of the Yuan cavalryman, and rode past him diagonally, knocking him down with just one lance.

Yan Xing entered the battle formation and led 400 of his cavalry to charge fiercely, brandishing their swords and spears, and fighting with the small number of Yuan cavalry. Yuan cavalry had no intention of fighting and was defeated in a short time, thus causing a great rout.

"withdraw!"

Seeing Yan Xing rushing towards him and his followers disbanding, Wen Chou knew it was difficult to win, so he ordered his cavalry to retreat. However, Wen Chou's shout made him targeted by the cavalry.

Although the battle situation was chaotic, it was not difficult to find Wen Chou. After all, Wen Chou was wearing a golden helmet and brocade clothes, and he was guarded by more than ten cavalrymen, so he became the focus of everyone.

First, dozens of cavalrymen rushed out and blocked Wen Chou's retreat. Wen Chou fought hard with his spear and killed two people in a row before he broke through the encirclement, and half of his cavalrymen were left behind. But in order to save his life, Wen Chou did not dare to charge back and could only lead his cavalry to continue retreating!

"Yan Yanming is here, why don't you surrender quickly, Wen Chou?"

Not long after Wen Chou escaped, he saw Yan Xing leading more than ten riders blocking the road ahead.

Seeing Yan Xing being violent in front of him, Wen Chou was immediately furious. He had been rampant in Hebei and was known as a man who could defeat ten thousand enemies. He had never been afraid of the enemy. Now he was trapped and killed by the Bing army, which really made him angry. Now Yan Xing led a small number of cavalry to stop him, so how could Wen Chou be afraid?
"Let me kill you right now!"

Wen Chou rode his horse and charged with his spear in hand, intending to kill Yan Xingjian first so that he could face others with dignity.

"kill!"

Although the two cavalry groups are not numerous in number, they are all good at riding. They are fighting each other now, but their goal is to kill each other.

"boom!"

Seeing Yan Xing stabbing with his spear, Wen Chou blocked and fought back, and the two spears collided with a dull sound.

"What a sturdy guy!"

Wen Chou felt the huge force coming and was shocked. He was stronger than Yan Liang, but now the enemy in front of him was as strong as himself, which was really shocking!

In order to kill Yan Xing quickly, Wen Chou turned his horse around during the fight, secretly took out a knife, and when Yan Xing was about to stab him with his spear, Wen Chou suddenly dropped his spear, drew out his sharp sword, and cut off Yan Xing's spear with one stroke, then slashed back.

Yan Xing was shocked to see the long spear in his hand broken into two. With his experience in fighting the Qiang people, he reacted quickly, blocking the long knife with the tip of the spear and stabbing Wen Chou's eyes with the broken spear.

"Pfft!"

Unexpectedly, Yan Xing could do two things at once. Wen Chou was caught off guard and his eyes were poked out, bleeding profusely. Wen Chou screamed in pain.

Seeing this, Yan Xing took advantage of Wen Chou's distraction and stabbed the broken spear with the tip into Wen Chou's chest. The sharp tip of the spear penetrated the armor, went straight into the muscles, and even into the heart.

In a moment, Wen Chou was silent, having died at the hands of Yan Xing.

"Wen Chou is dead, why don't you surrender quickly!"

(End of this chapter)