Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 287 Where Does the Merit of the Regiment Come From?
Weizben set up an ambush in the residential area of ​​the old city.

These rural dwellings, often spacious pavilions and hamlets, have always been ideal locations for ambushes.

Because whether the enemy is setting up camp or passing through in large numbers, they will choose to stop in such places for a while, at least to fetch water, cook, and rest—rural settlements all have well water, and once you pass this village, there may not be another inn.

Fetching water to cook food—this presents an excellent opportunity for an ambush.

Meanwhile, Lü Bu received a message from Liu Bei and was preparing to attack Cao Cao's retreating camp.

A direct confrontation is certainly not the best way to attack, and Lü Bu is not the kind of reckless man who rushes into camps at the drop of a hat—his idea is similar to Wei Zi's, and he also plans to ambush at Gushitingshe.

Thus, Lü Bu and Weiz unfortunately ended up in a skirmish...

Zhang Miao's troops were also with Wei Zi, led by Military Commander Zhao Chong.

Zhao Chong was a seasoned general. Seeing that the situation was not good, he immediately ordered the entire army to charge. He felt that Lu Bu's side had more cavalry, while his side had more men. It would be best to take the initiative to charge and create chaos, using the houses to suppress Lu Bu's cavalry.

Wei Zi and Zhang Miao's combined forces numbered six thousand, twice as many as Lü Bu's, but they had almost no cavalry, only a few dozen horses, which were only used to relay military orders.

Zhao Chong's tactics may seem brutal, but they are actually reasonable. Preventing the cavalry from charging and leveraging the advantages of numbers and environment is the most fundamental way to deal with cavalry.

The problem is that Wei Zi and Zhao Chong really don't understand Lü Bu or his troops.

Lu Bu also launched a charge immediately...

Currently, Lü Bu has nearly three thousand men under his command, but only about five hundred of them are true cavalry, which is half the number of cavalry in Liu Bei's army.

But the greatest strength of these cavalrymen was actually their archery skills—even without riding a horse, they were excellent rapid-fire archers.

The elite troops under Gao Shun and Zhang Liao were all mounted infantry, totaling a little over a thousand. They were originally meant to break through enemy lines, and their specialty was cutting down enemies in the middle of the enemy ranks.

In addition, there are a little over a thousand second-line troops, which serve as reserves and supplements to other units, to deal with various complex situations.

These people were a mix of Han and non-Han ethnicities, including some who had been recruited from the Miao tribes.

Because Lu Bu's army came from many different backgrounds, they couldn't really execute any complex tactics, but when it came to charging into battle and fighting haphazardly, that was exactly what they excelled at.

Battles where both sides clash are always extremely costly in terms of casualties, and in just a short while, Weiz realized that his side seemed unable to hold on...

Lu Bu took the lead and charged towards Weiz's banner, defeating six enemy troops in succession until he reached Weiz.

Gao Shun and Zhang Liao positioned themselves on the left and right, with Gao Shun protecting Lü Bu's side while Zhang Liao led his troops to break through Zhao Chong's central army.

Wei Zi was quite bold. Seeing that Lü Bu's armor was bright and he was charging ahead, he decided to capture the leader first and organized his elite troops to try to surround and kill Lü Bu.

This is the best option at present. After all, Lu Bu has more horses, while Wei Zi is all infantry. The battlefield is already in chaos. If they retreat, they will die even more miserably.

However, Lu Bu was not so easy to surround. Although his silver armor made him an easy target, Lu Bu's cross-shaped halberd swept and slashed with incredible speed. He remained calm even when surrounded by more than a dozen people, and every time he made a move, someone died.

Wei Zi was also furious, ordering his men to fire arrows indiscriminately, determined to take Lü Bu's life.

However, the arrows were only fired once, failing to kill the well-armored Lü Bu. They only felled Lü Bu's warhorse and also knocked down several of his own soldiers who were surrounding Lü Bu.

Lu Bu fell off his horse, rolled over, and pulled the feathered arrow from his chest.

Seeing that there was no blood on the arrow, he threw it away, roared, and swung his halberd left and right, scattering the surrounding enemies.

He then charged forward with his halberd, heading straight for Weiz.

Enraged by the death of his mount, Lü Bu unleashed his full power, unmatched in his presence. With Gao Shun protecting his flank, he was truly unstoppable.

Weiz quickly ordered his men to intercept them, while he himself raised his spear, spurred his horse, and charged out.

Weitz himself still has a horse, and a good one at that.

Now that Lü Bu had lost his horse, Wei Zi, leading his personal guards and charging forward on horseback, seemed to have a real chance.

But... just as he rushed in front of Lü Bu, he saw Lü Bu sweep his halberd horizontally, driving the cross-shaped branch of the halberd into the neck of the Wei Zi tribesman who was running at the front. Then, he planted the end of the halberd into the ground, using the man's corpse to create a chevaux-de-frise.

Wez was charging at full speed when his horse, unable to turn in time, crashed into the chevaux-de-frise made of corpses and halberds. Wez wasn't directly pierced by the halberd, but his horse's neck was pierced, and it immediately stumbled and fell over.

Weiz was thrown about ten steps, feeling dizzy and disoriented, when he saw a flash of cold light above his head.

"Weiz is dead!"

With his blood-stained sword in one hand and Weiz's severed head in the other, Lü Bu walked to the chevaux-de-frise. He sheathed his sword and drew his halberd again, this time with Weiz's severed head impaled on its crossbar.

……

On the other side, Liu Bei led his army across the bridge and quickly headed north along the Bian River, arriving at the river valley.

When Liu Bei received Xu Huang's message earlier, he had already sent a messenger to reply, instructing Xu Huang to hold off Bao Xin, and that he would arrive soon.

While Liu Bei and Cao Cao were battling it out, Xu Huang was locked in a standoff with Bao Xin. Although he didn't dare to make any rash advances, he continued to harass Liu Bei on a small scale after receiving a reply from Liu Bei.

This disturbance made Xu Huang realize that reinforcements weren't actually that necessary...

You don't know until you try; once you start, you realize the other side seems pretty weak...

Of course, Xu Huang was still very cautious. He felt that the other side might be pretending to be weak in order to lure him across the river to attack.

Although the area is a shallow beach that the troops can cross directly, the center of the river is still troublesome. The water is almost chest-deep, and the mud and sand make it difficult to run fast.

If you rashly cross the river, you might get trapped in the riverbed and suffer the consequences.

Therefore, although Xu Huang had already inflicted a massive casualty ratio of one to ten before Liu Bei arrived, he still did not launch a large-scale attack.

Bao Xin, on the other hand, was naturally a little anxious.

After a small-scale battle with Xu Huang, Bao Xin knew very well that he couldn't defeat the other side... Then he received a message from Cao Cao saying that he couldn't send reinforcements. Liu Bei was blocking the Bian River Bridge, and Cao Cao was preparing to retreat to Hu City to set up an ambush.

With no reinforcements arriving, Bao Xin also planned to retreat to Hu City to join forces with Cao Cao.

But just as they were beginning to withdraw their troops, Xu Huang's forces crossed the river and launched a strong attack. Although Xu Huang did not dare to advance rashly, he knew that if the enemy tried to escape, he would definitely have to pursue them.

Bao Xin knew this wouldn't work. Most of his men were new recruits, and if they retreated directly when Xu Huang attacked, it would easily lead to a major rout.

So Bao Xin ordered Bao Tao to lead a contingent of men to use the river to block Xu Huang for a while, while he led the main force to retreat first.

Bao Xin's retreat conveniently avoided Liu Bei's army's route, but Bao Tao's situation was tragic.

Just as Bao Tao was about to deploy archers on the riverbank, he heard from scouts that Liu Bei's troops were not far to the south and were advancing rapidly.

Bao Tao dared not set up any more blocking positions and quickly retreated northward.

However, the White Wave Army advanced far faster than Bao Tao had imagined in the valley. Before Bao Tao could even break camp, Xu Huang had already led his army across the river.

When Liu Bei arrived, Xu Huang was already torturing Bao Tao's troops.

Liu Bei led his army to attack from the rear, and in just half an hour, Bao Tao's troops were defeated. Bao Tao was killed by Xu Huang, and most of his troops surrendered.

"Gongming, most people in Guandong don't recognize you. Why don't you take these surrendered soldiers to Aocang and try to steal some of the enemy's grain?"

Upon meeting Xu Huang, Liu Bei's first words were to instruct Xu Huang to lead Bao Tao's remaining troops to deceive the city.

"Why not go and earn money in Xingyang?"

Xu Huang asked, "Both sides are cities to be captured. Isn't Xingyang a gathering place for rebels?"

"Taking Xingyang will not weaken the enemy. We are not here to capture the city, but to quickly defeat the rebels."

Liu Bei explained, "By taking the grain from Ao Cang, the enemy army was defeated on its own, and the rebel army was quelled."

Xu Huang nodded, but then asked, "Does the general only wish to quell the rebellion, and not to take the heads of the rebels as a reward?"

"The head? The real achievement is eliminating the ringleader in suppressing the rebellion; the enemy soldiers were merely deceived by the bandit leader."

Liu Bei said, "Gongming's defeat of Bao Tao is already a great achievement. I should recommend Gongming for an official position."

"The general is kind... but I am not doing this for myself."

Xu Huang shook his head and said, "My troops were all bandits, and they need merit more than I do... But if the enemy army collapses due to lack of food, or if only the bandit leader is killed, the military merit will not go to my troops."

……

(End of this chapter)