readytorunbook Chapter 233: The Final Battle (6)
Chapter 233: The Final Battle (6)
The mountains north of the Yangtze River are all sloped, and climbing them is equivalent to going uphill, so it doesn't have a significant impact on warhorses.
Zhao Yun rode his horse around a detour and quickly arrived near the fire in the Wei army camp. As he saw the fire, he heard shouts of battle behind it.
Without hesitation, Zhao Yun decisively bypassed the fire and rushed to the battlefield. As expected, during his detour, he ran into Cheng Ji and Feng Xi, who were attacking the Wei army's blocking position.
After identifying himself and explaining the reason, Cheng Ji rushed over and bowed, saying, "General Zhao, what brings you here?"
Zhao Yun, without bothering with pleasantries, cut to the chase: "The Third General has already defeated Xiahou Ba's blocking army, and tens of thousands of Wei soldiers are rushing towards you. Therefore, the Third General orders you to immediately withdraw your troops and hand over the Wei blocking positions to the Wei soldiers to attack. Hurry up and withdraw your troops, or you will run into the Wei soldiers."
Cheng Ji was stunned for a long time before he could process this bombshell news. Without thinking twice, he immediately shouted, "Sound the retreat!"
Upon receiving the order, the messenger struck a gong, and the attacking Han army retreated swiftly like a receding tide upon hearing the sound.
Zhao Yun and Cheng Ji waited in place. Before long, they heard Feng Xi shouting and cursing, "Chancellor Cheng, I was about to charge into the enemy camp, why did you suddenly retreat? You must give me a reason for retreating."
Feng Xi was truly frustrated. He had led his troops for half a day and was about to break through the camp and enter the enemy's formation when Cheng Ji suddenly ordered a retreat.
This puzzled Feng Xi greatly. When he heard the gong, he really wanted to pretend to be deaf and continue the attack, but he dared not disobey the military order. If he dared to disobey, the soldiers who attacked with him would dare to disobey him.
Feng Xi had no choice but to obey the order. After withdrawing from the battle, he immediately came to question Cheng Ji. However, he had barely spoken when he saw Zhao Yun standing next to Cheng Ji.
Feng Xi hurriedly ran up to greet him, bowed deeply, and said, "General Zilong, what brings you here?"
Zhao Yun repeated what he had told Cheng Ji, saying, "Let's find a place to hide and wait for the Third General to come and join us."
This time, Feng Xi did not question it and immediately led his troops to retreat two miles away to lie in ambush.
At the same time, Jiang Wei led his routed soldiers around the fire and arrived at the east direction of the Wei army camp. When he got there, he did not dare to go forward. Instead, he stood on the hillside, leaning on the flagpole and panting for a moment before stuffing the flagpole into the hands of the routed soldiers next to him.
The fleeing soldier instinctively took it, but only after gripping the flagpole did he realize, "Who the hell are you? Why are you giving me this thing?"
Jiang Wei didn't give him a chance to ask questions or raise doubts. He pointed to the Wei army camp and said, "If you can't carry it anymore, you can carry it for me for a while. The camp is just ahead. We can go into the camp to rest soon. Oh, I'm exhausted from running."
The defeated soldiers, who were initially annoyed, perked up immediately upon hearing the words "go to camp and rest," and shouted excitedly, "Brothers, charge! We're going home!"
After saying this, he carried the flag and rushed towards the main camp, with the routed soldiers behind him quickly circling around Jiang Wei and following him.
In the forward camp, the Wei troops who had just repelled Cheng Ji and Feng Xi and had not yet had time to rest were greatly alarmed when they heard shouts of battle coming from behind them. They quickly turned around and rushed to the east to intercept the enemy.
When they arrived at the front lines, they were surprised to find that the enemy was being charged by Wei army banners, with Wei soldiers following behind them. The garrison inside the camp was completely dumbfounded.
The routed soldiers also saw the Wei army in the camp. Fearing an attack, they hurriedly shouted, "Don't shoot arrows! We are General Xiahou's soldiers! Don't shoot arrows!"
The Wei soldiers guarding the camp were even more perplexed upon hearing this, and looked at their captain, asking, "What should we do? Should we attack or not?"
The captain gripped the hilt of his sword, struggling with his decision. Before he could make a decision, the fleeing soldiers had already rushed forward and started climbing over the deer antlers.
Now there's no need to struggle. Let's move the antlers aside and let them in. What else can we do? We can't exactly shoot arrows at our own people, can we?
Moreover, with so many defeated soldiers, they wouldn't stand a chance in a real fight.
As soon as the antlers were removed, the routed soldiers rushed into the camp through the gap, found a place to sit down and began to pant heavily. They were truly exhausted and terrified. Now they were finally back in their own camp and could rest in peace.
On the hillside where the flag had been changed earlier, Jiang Wei was overjoyed to see the routed soldiers break through the camp gate and rush into the camp. He was about to go back to contact Zhang Fei when he saw Zhang Fei leading his troops to arrive.
Fearing he might be mistakenly injured, Jiang Wei quickly shouted, "I am the Third General, Boyue!"
Zhang Fei rushed to Jiang Wei's side, patted him on the shoulder to encourage him, and then led his troops to continue charging towards the Wei army, shouting, "Brothers, charge! Kill!"
The Wei army's routed soldiers, already traumatized by Zhang Fei's pursuit, were terrified at the sound of his familiar voice and quickened their pace to enter the camp.
Those who had already entered the camp and were resting on the ground were the same; upon learning that Zhang Fei was coming, they all sprang up like zombies and continued to flee for their lives.
The garrison commander was completely dumbfounded. Without thinking, he hurriedly shouted, "Don't panic! Set up formation and hold the line! We outnumber you, we can definitely hold the line!"
What he said was true, but who would listen to him at this point? The fleeing soldiers ran even faster upon hearing this. The captain was pushed down and nearly trampled to death by the fleeing soldiers who were in a hurry to escape. After struggling to his feet, he could no longer care about blocking them and hurriedly joined the group to flee westward.
But is the west a place you can go?
Don't forget you were just fighting the Shu army in the west.
Upon hearing the commotion, Zhao Yun and Cheng Ji immediately led their troops out to attack. Zhao Yun once again charged to the front and, upon seeing the Wei army, roared, "Zhao Zilong of Changshan is here! Who dares to fight me?"
Zhao Zilong's name had a great deterrent effect on the Wei army. Upon hearing this, the Wei army was once again terrified and almost instinctively turned around and fled south.
Now Zhang Fei is to the east and Zhao Yun is to the west. The routed soldiers dare not charge in either direction. As for the north, that is the direction they fled back. Moreover, the Wei army's provisions were burned in the north. Although the fire has shrunk now, the temperature after burning has not decreased. The ground is as hot as an oven. If you try to escape from there, you can easily burn the soles of your feet.
Therefore, the only option left for the routed Wei soldiers was to flee south.
However, the south was the main battlefield between the Han and Wei armies, and it was directly behind the main force of the Wei army. The fleeing soldiers could run into Zhang He's back as soon as they escaped the mountain pass.
Instead of attacking, Zhao Yun stood outside the camp urging the fleeing soldiers to escape. Watching the Wei army surge towards the mountain pass like a tidal wave, Feng Xi exclaimed with delight, "Using Wei troops to fight Wei troops is really effective! The Third General is brilliant! General Zilong, what do we do now?"
The Wei army's position, which he had fought so hard to breach for half a day, was easily taken over by the fleeing Wei soldiers. Just thinking about it makes me want to scream...
Zhao Yun said, "Let's wait. The routed troops are too long and it will take some time for them to finish running. After they pass, we will join forces with the three generals and attack Zhang He's rear together."
……
The Han army camp was located in the valley.
The decisive battle between the Han and Wei armies has reached a fever pitch.
Under Zhang He's command, the Wei army spared no effort and finally broke through the Shu army's palisades and stormed into the Shu army's camp.
Unexpectedly, upon entering, they tragically discovered that they had fallen into another trap set by the Shu army. The Shu army had dug countless horse traps in their camp, covering them with wooden planks to serve as bridges. The end of the planks closest to the Wei army was fitted with a ring, and ropes were hung from the ring.
After the Shu army retreated past the horse trap, they immediately grabbed the ropes and pulled hard, lifting the wooden planks to reveal the trap. The poor Wei army was once again blocked in front of the trap.
Not only that, the wooden planks that were pulled up were also used as shields by the Shu army. Shu spearmen hid behind the planks and thrust wildly with their spears, forcing the Wei army to pay a bloody price for every step they took forward.
Zhuge Liang stood atop the arrow tower, calmly waving his feather fan as he surveyed the battlefield.
The Wei army's offensive was clearly not as strong as it had been at the beginning. Once they got through this wave and retreated through another horse trap, the Wei army would see an endless number of horse traps and not know how many more there would be. They would definitely feel desperate.
Then I can launch a counterattack. First, I'll have Zhang Bao shout a message to demoralize the enemy, and then I'll lead my troops out to fight Zhang He to the death.
The idea was good, but Zhuge Liang couldn't wait that long, because Zhang Nan arrived.
Zhang Nan followed Gao Xiang, who was guarding the west gate, to the arrow tower and bowed, saying, "Strategist, General Zhao Yun asked me to tell you that he and the Third General have captured Xiahou Ba alive and are driving Xiahou Ba's defeated troops toward this side. If nothing unexpected happens, it won't be long before Xiahou Ba's defeated troops rush out of the mountain pass and attack Zhang He's rear. Please make preparations as soon as possible, strategist."
Zhuge Liang abruptly stopped waving his fan, looked down at Zhang Nan with a bewildered expression, and asked, "What the hell? What did you say?"