The Three Kingdoms: The Oath of the Peach Garden, the Rise of the Han Dynasty

Li Chang stopped smiling:

"Although Qu knows how to set up camp on the main road, he has a fatal flaw: most of his men are Qiang people who lack discipline and are of the same origin as our newly recruited Qiang cavalry."

Moji, take three hundred Qiang cavalry, remove the Han army armor, change into tribal clothing, and take the captured command arrows. If necessary, use them and say that they are reinforcements sent by Beigong Boyu.

Remember to speak Qiang language throughout.

Moji patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, strategist! The accent of us Qiang people is something the Han people can't imitate!"

"Zilong, you lead a thousand elite cavalry, follow Moji a hundred paces behind and remain concealed. As soon as the gates open, charge in immediately and head straight for the central command tent."

Zhao Yun clasped his hands in acceptance of the order.

"Eldest brother, third brother, you lead the main force and hide two miles behind. When the fighting starts inside the camp, press forward at full speed."

Zhang Fei rubbed his hands together excitedly and said, "Good! Let me charge in and kill that Qiequ with one spear!"

Half an hour later, Moji and his group arrived at the village gate and shouted in fluent Qiang language:

"Open the gate! We are reinforcements from Anding County! We are here on General Beigong's orders to deliver provisions and aid in the defense!"

A Qiang village chief peered out from the stockade wall and sized him up:

"Do you have General Beigong's command token?"

"Of course!" Moji raised the command arrow high, "We've traveled over mountains and valleys, and three horses have died of exhaustion! Open the gate and let us in to rest!"

The garrison commander examined the command token carefully and confirmed that it was indeed genuine.

In addition, in the past few months, it has been common for scattered tribes to come to Beigong Boyu for refuge.

"Just wait!"

With a heavy creak, the village gate slowly opened. It opened completely.

Moji's entire army entered the camp. A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and a small knife slid out from his sleeve, slicing across the throat of the junior officer who opened the gate.

Blood splattered on the wooden board, and the man collapsed to the ground before he could even utter a sound.

"Let's do it!"

Three hundred Qiang cavalrymen launched an attack simultaneously, felling more than a dozen guards at the gate in the blink of an eye, and firmly occupying the gate.

The alarm gongs in the camp suddenly sounded loudly.

The defenders rushed out of their tents in haste, some without armor and some barefoot.

After a few months of peace and comfort, they all forgot to be vigilant!

Just then, the ground began to shake.

To the northeast, a white line appeared on the horizon as Zhao Yun's 1,200 cavalrymen poured into the gate.

The gleaming silver spear pierced through the breastplate of the leading rebel captain, pinning him to a camp pillar.

"I am Zhao Zilong of Changshan!"

The rebels in the camp finally panicked completely.

He was startled awake from his sleep, grabbed his sword and rushed out of the tent. Before him was a blazing inferno, and in his ears were deafening shouts of battle.

He ordered his men to defend the palisade to the death, while personally overseeing the battle. Using the terrain to their advantage, he deployed archers to hold the line and successfully withstood Zhao Yun's cavalry charge.

The cavalry could not maneuver freely within the camp, and their momentum gradually slowed down.

The two armies were briefly locked in a stalemate.

He gripped the knife tightly, gritting his teeth to maintain his last line of defense.

He'd been playing for half his life and knew that as long as he could hold out this wave, Jieting could still be defended!

But Zhao Yun didn't engage in a direct confrontation with them. Instead, he led his cavalry to wear them down and used mounted archery to kite them!

This stalemate lasted for several hours!

After the initial chaos, they finally managed to organize enough people to begin their rebellion!

It seemed that they were about to rely on their terrain and numerical advantage to drive Zhao Yun's army out of the camp.

Just then...

Liu Bei and Zhang Fei arrived with 9,000 main force.

Zhang Fei charged at the forefront, his eighteen-foot spear pointing skyward: "Zhang Yide of Yan is here! Those who kneel and lay down their weapons will be spared!"

The loud shout shook the dust off the stockade wall, and several rebel soldiers in the front row dropped their weapons to the ground.

In a short while, Zhang Fei had already rushed into the enemy camp, almost overturning the tents along with the men!

Among the Qiang people, how many fierce men like this are there!

Nine thousand troops pressed forward from behind, and in an instant, swathes of rebel soldiers dropped their weapons and knelt down with their hands over their heads.

The archers behind the fence looked at each other, wondering who was the first to release the bowstring, and then all the archers simultaneously lowered their weapons.

Qu stood blankly in front of the central command tent, watching his subordinates kneel down like wheat being harvested.

Finally, the knife slipped from his hand.

"Don't make a move! I surrender!"

Zhang Fei dismounted and strode to the gate, where he cleaved Bei Gong Boyu's banner in two with a single spear thrust.

The tattered flag fell and crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The battle lasted from 7 AM to 11 PM.

Of the three thousand defenders, eight hundred were killed and more than two thousand surrendered.

Just as the entire army collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, Xiahou Lan stumbled out from the rear camp: "My lord! Strategist! The granaries in the rear camp are overflowing with food and water! Enough to feed us for half a month!"

When the news spread, the entire army rejoiced!

Zhang Fei was the first to rush into the rear camp, and upon seeing the mountain of grain, he laughed heartily:

"Great! That old bastard Beigong Boyu really gave us a wonderful gift!"

Liu Bei looked at the full granary and breathed a long sigh of relief.

This will alleviate the pressure on food and logistics!

Li Chang looked at Liu Bei and said, "Brother, why don't we issue the order to open the granaries and distribute the grain so that the brothers can have a good meal? Fill all the water bags."

"good!"

The news spread.

Exhausted soldiers lit a fire and cooked, their faces breaking into long-lost smiles.

During the days of the surprise attack, they hadn't had a hot meal!

That night, after arranging the patrols, Zhao Yun sat alone on the stockade wall, gazing towards Ji County in the south.

Footsteps sounded behind him. Li Chang sat down next to him, carrying a water bag.

Zhao Yun was silent for a moment: "Strategist, we've taken Jieting. But Beigong Boyu still has tens of thousands of men under his command. Now that we've occupied Jieting and cut off the supply route to Longguan, he will definitely turn around and attack us with all his might."

"Yes," Li Chang said confidently, taking a sip of water. "But I've already figured out how to deal with them!"

The campfire crackled, and sparks rose into the Liangzhou night sky, like the brightest star in the night sky.

……

When the news reached the rebel camp outside Ji County, Beigong Boyu was still drinking with two Qiang women.

He also lived a lower-budget version of Liu Hong's life.

Upon hearing the scout's urgent report, he smashed the wine vessel on the ground, scattering bronze fragments everywhere.

"Useless! And that utterly useless fellow! Three thousand elite troops couldn't even hold a single Jieting!" Beigong Boyu kicked over a table. "That brat Liu Bei dared to flank us! Has he grown wings?"

None of the generals dared to utter a sound.

Han Sui stood to the side, head bowed, concealing the disdain in his eyes.

He had warned Beigong Boyu long ago to be wary of Liu Bei taking the small path through the northern Longshan Mountains, but Beigong Boyu wouldn't listen at all, thinking that guarding the Longguan Pass was the safest option.

Now that Jieting has been lost and the Longguan grain route has been cut off, the tide of the war has turned dramatically.

"General, please calm down," Han Sui said.

"Now that things have come to this, the most important thing is to retake Jieting. If Jieting is lost, Longguan will surely fall, and Liu Bei will be able to advance unimpeded and directly threaten Ji County."

"It would be better to order a halt to the siege now, and have the entire army return to concentrate our forces to attack Jieting."

"Stop the siege?" Beigong Boyu glared at him. "Ji County has lost three gates today, and we'll be able to take it in three more days! If we turn back now, all our previous efforts will have been wasted!"

"It's just a small town, isn't it? Li Wenhou!"