I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 324 A Belated Word of Justice
Kunyang.

Just as Sima Yi had predicted, Yuan Shao did not overestimate himself. Instead, he retracted his outstretched fingers one by one, turning them back into an iron fist.

Chunyu Qiong, Zhang He, and Gao Lan all returned to this place. Even at the foot of Xuchang City, Yuan Shao only left Ju Shou and Pang Ji to guard it, and summoned Guo Tu back to focus on dealing with this battle.

"Liu Miao... I don't know whether to praise him for his courage and ambition, or to say that he doesn't understand military strategy and acts impulsively."

The maps surrounding both armies have now been surveyed by scouts.

It can be clearly seen that between Yuan Shao's camp and Liu Miao's camp, there is only the Kun River and the Cheng River.

That clear water...

The word "澄" means clear, calm, and without waves.

Therefore, Chengshui, though called a river, is actually just a shallow stream that a horse can leap across, and it does not serve any protective function at all.

In other words, there is absolutely no protection between Liu Miao and Yuan Shao; it is all flat plain!

This was a nightmare for Liu Miao's army, which was outnumbered!

Yuan Shao's civil and military officials remained silent about the current situation.

It's not that it's too difficult, but at this point, even a fool would know how to fight this battle!

Yuan Shao stared at the map, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.

"Liu Miao, oh Liu Miao, haha."

At this moment, Yuan Shao turned his attention to the northwest corner of Wuyang.

That place was one of the few battlefields on both sides where mountains existed.

Wufeng Mountain.

Although not towering, occupying this position allows one to clearly see the movements of most of Liu Miao's army camp, which is obviously advantageous for the subsequent battles between the two sides.

"Zhong Jian."

"Lord Yuan!"

Chunyu Qiong was a very senior officer who had served as one of the Eight Colonels of the Western Garden alongside Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. Therefore, even after joining Yuan Shao, he still held considerable prestige and seniority in the army, as evidenced by the fact that Yuan Shao divided Ju Shou's supervisory authority into three parts, with him and Guo Tu each holding a portion.
"You did a good job driving Xiahou Dun out of Luoyang. I wonder if you could take Wufeng Mountain for me and set up a camp there to monitor Liu Miao's entire army?"

"Liu Miao is nothing but a piece of cake for my lord!"

Chunyu Qiong was tall and strong with a beautiful beard.

At this moment, Ying Nuo's voice became even more powerful, prompting Yuan Shao to exclaim, "How magnificent!"

"Therefore, let Zhong Jian be the vanguard, leading five thousand elite troops ahead!"

Yuan Jun had long ago erected many pontoon bridges across the Kunming River.

After all, what Yuan Jun was pursuing was not to use Kunshui for defense, but to prevent Kunshui from becoming a hindrance to his nearby camp.

Chunyu Qiong had just led his troops out to attack when Liu Miao received the news.

Zhou Yu remained the overall commander, responsible for coordinating the entire war effort.

Taishi Ci, Zhu Huan, Huang Zhong, Xu Huang, Zhang Liao and other generals sat on the left.

Jia Xu, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Sima Yi, Lu Yi, and others resided in the right courtyard.

Xu Sheng, Li Yan, Huo Jun, and others were not qualified to have a seat; they could only sit on a folding chair at the end of the tent, listening attentively to Liu Miao's military arrangements.

"Chunyu Qiong is heading towards Wufeng Mountain."

With just a glance at the map, Zhou Yu immediately discerned Chunyu Qiong's movements.

"Wufeng Mountain is the only high point near Wuyang, so it's not surprising that Yuan Shao wanted to occupy it."

The current situation on the entire battlefield shows a trend of higher elevation in the west and lower elevation in the east.

If Wufeng Mountain to the west were occupied by Yuan Shao, then in future battles, he could simply station a few thousand of his troops there, which would be equivalent to tens of thousands of men.

Therefore, we certainly cannot let Wufeng Mountain fall into Yuan Shao's hands for nothing.

Liu Miao looked up and saw that all the generals were eager to try, but none of them chose to use them.

Instead, he looked at the somewhat taciturn Zhang Liao and asked, "Wen Yuan, if I were to send you, are you confident you could intercept Chunyu Qiong?"

Everyone was baffled when Liu Miao mentioned Zhang Liao by name.

Even Zhang Liao hesitated, saying, "My lord, my troops are heavy cavalry, that's not..."

Shouldn't that be Liu Miao's trump card?
Have you ever seen anyone play their trump card right away during a battle?
If we really deploy the heavy cavalry, what will happen next?
Moreover, according to the scouts, Chunyu Qiong only brought five thousand soldiers. Is it a waste of his talents to send out heavy cavalry to deal with them?

Zhou Yu, however, understood Liu Miao's intention and immediately looked at him: "Does our lord intend to use the strategy of Tian Ji's horse race to dampen Yuan Shao's momentum?"

"That's it."

"but……"

Liu Miao stroked his beard: "If Gongjin were Yuan Shao, what would Gongjin think if he saw me bring out heavy cavalry for the first battle?" "I would certainly think that my lord is terrified and has completely lost his composure, and has actually brought out heavy cavalry for the first battle. In that case, even if we lose, it will be a happy thing."

"That's right."

Liu Miao did not explain his reasons, but nodded to Zhang Liao: "Wen Yuan, prepare to go on the expedition."

"But does Wen Yuan really think he can't take down Chunyu Qiong?"

Zhang Liao immediately shook his head: "This humble general will certainly capture Chunyu Qiong for our lord and not allow him to cross the Five Peaks Mountain!"

Zhang Liao was ordered to lead 300 heavy cavalry to ambush Chunyu Qiong, while Xu Huang led 2,000 infantry to support Zhang Liao from the rear.

Wufeng Mountain is closer to Wuyang, so even though Zhang Liao and Xu Huang arrived later, they were the first to arrive at the foot of Wufeng Mountain and begin to form a battle formation to wait for Chunyu Qiong.

Chunyu Qiong lazily arrived at the foot of Wufeng Mountain. He was initially surprised to see Liu Miao's soldiers there, but when he realized that the enemy's number of troops was less than half of his own, he relaxed again.

"It's laughable that Liu Miao, as the commander-in-chief, is still stingy with his troops at this point."

Chunyu Qiong ordered scouts to investigate the surrounding area. When they heard that there were no Liu Miao ambush troops nearby, he immediately organized his troops and slowly advanced towards Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, and the others.

"I was fooled after all!"

Seeing Chunyu Qiong's arrogance, Zhang Liao's initial slight nervousness gradually subsided.

Although heavily armored cavalry is extremely powerful, it can only play its greatest role in a confined and small battlefield.

For example, when Yuan Tan was in a hurry to leave Longmen Ferry, everyone was crammed together in a chaotic mess, which was the best time to unleash the power of the heavy cavalry.

Now, what Zhang Liao fears when facing Chunyu Qiong is that Chunyu Qiong is too cautious and orders his soldiers to advance in formation, which would disperse the killing power of the heavy cavalry and thus fail to create the necessary deterrent.

However, upon seeing that his side only had a little over two thousand infantry and cavalry, Chunyu Qiong clearly lost his vigilance and began to march towards Zhang Liao's direction.

"Mount!"

After Zhang Liao and his heavy cavalry donned their armor, they hid behind the infantry to conserve energy.

Now that Chunyu Qiong has arrived, these terrifying mobile fortresses have once again reappeared before the world!
Chunyu Qiong didn't pay much attention at first.

Even though they had seen that Liu Miao's army seemed to have suddenly gained some cavalry, their numbers were only three hundred, which was not enough to pose a significant threat to Chunyu Qiong's side.

Cavalry, especially light cavalry, may not be able to harm infantry in formation even if they charge, unless their numbers reach a certain scale.

It seems like a fantasy to think that three hundred cavalrymen could break through five thousand well-prepared infantrymen!

But when the cavalrymen began to charge, Chunyu Qiong noticed something was wrong!

Those cavalrymen did not advance along the traditional route of flanking or even attacking the rear.

Without the slightest dodge or hesitation, they charged towards Yuan's army in the shortest straight line possible!

As Zhang Liao led his cavalry in a charge, the tremors on the ground were noticeably different from those of ordinary cavalry charging.

The overwhelming force was like a torrent rushing down from Wufeng Mountain, frightening the land, causing it to tremble and retreat in fear.

As he drew closer, Chunyu Qiong was finally able to see the full picture of the cavalry on the other side.

The mountain-patterned chainmail on his body reflected a mysterious and majestic light in the sunlight.

Each piece of armor, tightly snapped together, seemed like the scales that originally grew on these monsters, breathing and accumulating power with each sway as they charged.

The people and horses are no longer distinguishable.

It's as if a man-eating monster from the Classic of Mountains and Seas has come out, baring its fangs and claws as it rushes towards us, as if it wants to feast!
"Heavy cavalry!"

Chunyu Qiong finally saw clearly what kind of monsters were charging towards him!

In just a short while, Chunyu Qiong was already drenched in sweat!
Although during the Battle of Hedong, Yuan Tan had already stated that Liu Miao's army was equipped with heavy cavalry.

However, due to the actions of some people who tried to take advantage of the situation, especially Yuan Tan's brother who was known for his brotherly affection, the generals in Yuan's camp were somewhat dismissive of the idea that Liu Miao was equipped with "heavy cavalry."

First of all, how easy is it to develop "heavy cavalry"?
Even if it were developed, could Liu Miao, located in the south, find a few suitable warhorses to carry the armor that weighs fifty or sixty pounds?
Second.

According to Yuan Tan, Liu Miao's heavy cavalry came from the north of Longmendu.

This means that this heavy cavalry force would have to set off from Guanzhong, cross towering mountains and deep valleys, in order to possibly outflank Yuan Tan and launch an attack.

But the equipment of heavy cavalry was so heavy, how could Liu Miao's soldiers possibly carry all of that to complete a strategic flanking maneuver?
Therefore, the general consensus among Yuan Tan's generals was that either Yuan Tan was seeing things, or Liu Miao had faked something by attaching patterns to the cavalry to deceive and intimidate Yuan Tan, making him afraid to fight against him.

But when Chunyu Qiong saw the heavily armored cavalry charging towards him, all his previous suspicions were instantly overturned!

Liu Miao truly had a genuine heavy cavalry force under his command!

Moreover, judging from the amplitude of their armor, Chunyu Qiong was certain that what they were wearing was definitely genuine!

Chunyu Qiong looked at Zhang Liao, who was rushing towards them, and finally spoke a fair word for Yuan Tan in his heart.

"Is it possible that we have truly misunderstood the young master?"

"From beginning to end, it wasn't that the eldest son was too weak, but rather that Liu Miao was truly incredibly strong!"

(End of this chapter)