Tiger Guards

Chapter 455 Zhang Liao Competes for Merit
August 28th, Yi Mao day.

A cold wind howled along both banks of the Yellow River. Outside the north gate of Yan County, Zhao Ji led more than a thousand chariots and cavalry to observe the scene.

A strong wind blew, and the flags on each of the flag-bearing vehicles fluttered and stretched out in the wind.

One of the banners reads "The Head of the Five Poisons," and Cao Cao's dried head, preserved in salt, hangs in a birdcage, swaying in the wind.

Zhao Ji observed the city of Yan County and saw that several collapsed sections of the wall had been hastily rebuilt and roughly repaired.

Cao's officers and soldiers climbed the city wall and looked around, their figures covering every part of the wall, resembling wooden carvings.

Zhao Ji glanced back at the banner that read "Head of the Five Poisons," which fluttered in the wind.

Seeing Zhao Ji looking over, the flag guards on the flag carriage pulled on the ropes securing the flag, with each of them pulling on a corner of the flag, finally getting the flag hanging down again.

The wind from the north caused the flag to swell to the south, but the characters were large and very clear.

From a distance of over a hundred paces, the soldiers guarding the city walls should have been able to see clearly.

As for whether it would enrage Cao Cao's army... Zhao Ji didn't care. It was impossible for Cao Cao's army to erupt in bloody rage under extreme anger, right?
Given Cao Ang's current food reserves, extreme anger will only accelerate his physical exhaustion.

"Father!"

On the city wall, Cao Ang roared hoarsely, his eyes bloodshot, until he was so exhausted that his body went limp.

Cao Zhen and Xiahou Shang quickly helped Cao Ang back.

Cao Hong stared at the large banner bearing the inscription "Grand Marshal of Han" and the secondary banner with white tiger stripes below the city. He glared angrily and said in a deep voice, "Bring me the Great Yellow Crossbow!"

His personal guards moved quietly, bending over to carry over large yellow crossbows, two at a time, kneeling as they approached the uneven, weathered ramparts.

They all climbed onto the battlements, while some shield-bearing soldiers subtly shifted their positions to provide cover for these elite crossbowmen.

At this moment, another group of crossbowmen, carrying crossbows on their backs, crouched down and used both hands and feet to come, led by Yu Jin.

He brought with him the powerful crossbows of Mount Tai, and these crossbowmen, together with Cao Hong's troops, formed a force of over a hundred.

As they prepared, Zhao Ji, who was below the city wall, observed the slow movement of the stagnant crowd on the wall and smiled, "The enemy is going to use a trick; raise your shields!"

"Shield! Shield up!"

Guan Shang turned around and shouted to those on either side. Almost simultaneously, several heavily armored guards carrying shields as tall as their shoulders stood in front of Zhao Ji, and more shield soldiers surged forward.

More than twenty shield-bearers formed a shield wall in front of Zhao Ji, and soon another row stood diagonally on top of the shield wall, providing complete protection.

The knight reined in his horse and retreated to the back of the chariot, where the flag bearers and archers also took out their small protective shields.

"hair!"

On the city wall, Cao Hong raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and pressed it down hard in front of him, as if he wanted to slap Zhao Ji to death.

More than a hundred crossbows and horn crossbows were fired at the same time, the sound of the bowstrings snapping and echoing endlessly. The crossbow bolts pierced the air and embedded themselves in the ground and the large shield near Zhao Ji.

Some crossbow bolts pierced the large shields, causing the shield formation to sway for a moment before returning to normal.

Zhao Ji stepped out from behind the shield formation, grabbed a bow in his left hand and an arrow in his right, and fired an arrow at Cao Hong and Yu Jin, who were wearing golden armor on the city wall, in a standard archery stance.

Without even checking the effect, he shot an arrow, then reached into the quiver Guan Shang handed him and began his own rapid-fire attack.

The arrow was fired with the wind at its back. Cao Hong, on the city wall, instinctively dodged to the side, but his left arm, which was guarding his shoulder, was hit by the arrow, and he was knocked backward.

Yu Jin crouched down to dodge, but the arrow grazed his helmet plume and struck a military officer behind him. The arrow almost pierced through his chest, leaving only five or six inches of fletching where the iron plate was attached to his leather armor.

Cao Hong was supported by the soldiers behind him and did not fall; he would rather have fallen.

Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen arrows were shot around him, and the crowd on the city wall cried out in pain.

The shield bearers quickly crowded together, forming a safety barrier.

Cao Hong suffered excruciating pain in his left shoulder, which he could not suppress. He gritted his teeth and endured the pain, and could only be carried by his personal guards to retreat down the city walls to seek medical treatment.

Yu Jin crouched at the top of the battlements, observing through the gaps in the shields.

Seeing that Zhao Ji had stopped shooting arrows below the city, they saw that the more than two hundred chariots that had come with Zhao Ji were lined up in a row, and the chariots were loaded with no less than four hundred crossbows and heavy crossbows, which also fired at the same time.

This round of firing immediately broke through two layers of shield walls on the city wall. The shield soldiers were injured and unable to cooperate, revealing several gaps.

Upon seeing the breach, the officers behind them all crouched down, leaving only a few flags behind.

After a brief exchange, Zhao Ji boarded the chariot, hung up his bow, glanced back at the city wall, and said, "Sound the horn, return to camp!"

As the bugle sounded, the convoy turned around and slowly set off westward.

After traveling no more than five or six miles, a group of scouts escorted a messenger on horseback to catch up with the caravan. The messenger jumped off his horse and handed over a military dispatch: "Grand Marshal, Gan Xingba has reported a victory! He has captured Baima Ferry and captured or killed 2,300 enemies!" Zhao Ji looked back towards Baima Ferry, but he could not see anything there; there were no obvious signs of smoke or fire.

A guard handed over the military dispatch. Zhao Ji opened the dispatch and found it was sent by Gan Ning's accompanying military officer. Gan Ning and other officers of battalion commander rank and above had also signed it, confirming the authenticity of the military information.

In the military dispatch, Gan Ning inquired about the next steps.

The question is whether to escort the prisoners back or launch a deep raid on Puyangjin and the various temporary outposts outside Puyang City.

Zhao Ji then asked the envoy, "Has Yuan's army in Liyang on the north bank intervened or interfered?"

"Yuan Jun's ships from Liyang left the water fortress and sank ballast stones along the north bank, showing no signs of intervention!"

"Go back and tell Gan Xingba that since I have given him permission to act freely, the situation on the front lines can change in an instant, and he doesn't need to ask me for instructions on everything. If he needs reinforcements, I will dispatch them as appropriate. If he asks me whether to retreat or fight, I don't care."

As Zhao Ji spoke, he turned to look at a clerk. The clerk understood and immediately took out a pen and ink to write the order on the wooden military order. The wooden order was carved into the shape of a foot-long command arrow as requested by Zhao Ji. It had anti-counterfeiting carvings on the sides and back, and was also engraved with words. It was only for use in this battle.

The front of the command arrow has a silk book attached. This silk was woven with colored threads, which also formed a specific anti-counterfeiting pattern.

After the clerk quickly wrote the document, Zhao Ji took the seal, stamped it, and handed it to the messenger, which served as a written agreement.

We are not afraid of Gan Ning making meritorious contributions. Even if Gan Ning makes meritorious contributions, at most his promotion speed will be on par with that of Wei Xing and Han Shu.

Zhao Ji wouldn't readily believe that every member of the Tiger Legion had the potential to become a general. He would rather these people grow into mediocre, conservative generals than have them fight fierce, risky battles.

While such tough battles can certainly be challenging, the risk of injury is also high.

Having experienced such a tough battle, the Tiger Warriors will obviously speak with more confidence in the future, which is not conducive to overall stability.

People like Gan Ning, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, and Li Ying, who were surrendered generals or new recruits, were very useful. Even if they made great contributions, they wouldn't raise their voices to him or ask for any rewards.

Tiger Partners has weathered the initial risks and challenges of starting a business and established its initial foundation.

If you want to expand this market, you naturally need newcomers to put in the effort and work hard.

If people like Wei Xing and Han Shu live long enough and have enough experience, they will have the potential to become famous generals.

At this moment, Zhang Liao, who was marching from the south, also broke through Cao Cao's small camp at Baima Mountain, which was more like a guard post.

Zhang Liao's offensive was swift, but the defending troops could run even faster.

The defending troops had a visual advantage on Baima Mountain and could run ahead of time, but how could they outrun Zhang Liao's cavalry?
Before the defending troops fled, they lit beacon fires on Baima Mountain.

However, today there was a strong northerly wind, and the thick smoke was blown south by the strong wind and quickly dissipated in the wind, failing to warn Puyang and Yanxian.

On Baima Mountain, Zhang Liao's entire army rested and reorganized.

Zhang Liao then stood gazing in the direction of Puyang, his mind filled with doubt.

Cao Cao's main force has been mobilized and is now trapped in the isolated city of Yan County.

This means that even if there are troops left to guard the Puyang area, they are the kind of troops that are not up to par. Even if there are 10,000 of them, Zhang Liao is confident that he can overwhelm them.

However, there were still no fewer than 100,000 family members and servants of Cao Cao's army around Puyang.

If he were to seize such a large amount of manpower and military merit, the daredevil faction would hate him to death.

With a profit of 100,000, that's enough to redeem 5,000 daredevils twice!
Moreover, three thousand of these daredevils were Cao Cao's personal guards, and they were eager to rescue their families.

If Puyang is captured now, these 100,000 people will inevitably become government slaves, and this is a great enmity.

This was not a low-quality population like the 100,000 Yellow Turban rebels; most of them were well-dressed.

Even if they were to become slaves, they would still be exceptionally talented, and it would only be a matter of time before they rose to prominence.

Even the women among them, placed in Zhao Ji's backyard, had a greater chance of rising in status.

As a general who had just defected from Lü Bu's side, Zhang Liao was naturally fond of pursuing glory and merit, and wanted to prove his talent and courage so that Lü Bu would regret his decision.

Besides, the seven officers and soldiers under his command who jumped over with him were not just looking for a lifetime of military rations.

In such chaotic times, who doesn't have some aspirations?
You can deceive outsiders, but if you even deceive the soldiers who risk their lives to follow you, then don't blame them for shooting three arrows in the face of battle and acting perfunctorily in the future.

Zhang Liao looked back at his troops who were resting and taking shelter from the wind on the south side of Baima Mountain. They had marched so fast that they were all exhausted and lying down in their armor.

After enduring so much hardship, what is the ultimate goal that is to become famous and enjoy high office and wealth?
With the bounty of 100,000 government slaves, a title of nobility is within reach!

Zhang Liao made up his mind, clenching his fist secretly; he was determined to obtain this honor!

(End of this chapter)