My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 100 Zhang Fei Breaks the Formation
The morale of the Taishan soldiers had reached its peak. After slightly reorganizing their formation, they continued their advance under the rain of arrows from Cao Bao's army.

At this time, the vanguard of the Taishan Army had been replaced by Zhang Yu, a man of imposing stature who also carried a long sword, just like Guan Zhu.

This weapon is brutal and easy to use; if the blade gets dull, you can simply replace it with another one, and the feel is almost the same.

Unlike special weapons, which are useful but difficult to replace.

The Taishan Army was better equipped than the Danyang Army, with an armor coverage rate of over 7%, while the Danyang Army's armor coverage rate was only 4%.

This is not because Tao Qian favored the Taishan Army; in fact, the Danyang Army was definitely Tao Qian's favorite.

However, the Danyang army was repeatedly defeated by Cao Cao, and a large amount of armor and weapons fell into the hands of Cao Cao's army, so their own equipment naturally became worse and worse.

Meanwhile, the Taishan Army continued to recuperate and rebuild, and its armor stock actually increased instead of decreasing, thus surpassing that of the Danyang Army.

Just now, it was only a series of exchanges, and in the time it takes to eat a meal, the Taishan Army had already broken through the Danyang Army's front line, which caused the morale of the entire Danyang Army to plummet.

Although the two flanks wanted to attack Zang Ba's main force from the side to relieve pressure on their commander, the Taishan Army's flanks were also in high spirits and fought to the death, showing signs of a counterattack.

Cao Bao's army has fallen into a complete disadvantage.

If only Cao Bao's army were on the battlefield, then one could only pray that Cao Bao would display his divine might and kill Zang Ba, Zhang Yu, and Guan Zhu in battle, only then could the situation be reversed.

Otherwise, they could only watch as Zang Ba's Taishan Army grew stronger and stronger until it completely crushed the Danyang Army.

All Cao Bao could do was prolong the resistance and see if he could hold out until nightfall, at which point both sides would cease fighting.

Just as Zang Ba was riding high and about to press his advantage and break through Cao Bao's main camp, his personal guard suddenly grabbed his arm, trembling.

"General...you...you...look..."

This kind of rude behavior should not have happened, but the guard didn't realize he was doing it until he did.

Looking in the direction the personal guard pointed, he saw that it was the location of the thousand soldiers of Xiapi County who were under the command of Commander Lu Ling on his left flank, covering the flank of the main force.

Zang Ba stared intently, and was completely dumbfounded.

It turns out that his flank had also collapsed.

The Taishan soldiers, who seemed to be in high spirits just a moment ago, are now starting to crumble. Many soldiers have broken away from their positions and are fleeing in all directions. Some of them are even running towards the flank of the main force in their panic, and it looks like they are about to crash directly into the flank of the formation.

What exactly happened?

Zang Ba was baffled. A great victory was within reach, and a single battle would wipe out the strongest Danyang army in Xuzhou.

Next, he could either march south to Tancheng, forcing Liu Bei to dismiss Xiao Jian and appoint himself as the Prefect of Langya, or take advantage of Liu Bei's weakened state and inability to fight further to march north, directly attack and destroy Xiao Jian, and replace him.

But how did the flank collapse?
Zang Ba really couldn't understand it.

It's no wonder he couldn't understand it. According to his estimation, the covering force should have only just engaged the enemy, so how could it have collapsed?
Did I see a ghost?
Just then, a troop of cavalry broke through the formation and appeared before Zang Ba. The leader was a tiger general, eight feet tall, with a leopard's head, round eyes, and a swallow's jaw and tiger's beard. He rode a chestnut horse and his voice was like thunder. He led more than fifty riders and actually broke through the entire flank of the Taishan army.

After breaking through the enemy lines, this general was not in a hurry to return. Instead, he leisurely observed the main force of Zang Ba's army.

Finally, he even discovered Zang Ba's location, raised his spear, and pointed it at Zang Ba from afar.

Zang Ba's heart tightened, and he asked those around him, "Who is this person?"

Those around them looked at each other, none of them able to answer.

Suddenly, a thought struck Zang Ba, and he blurted out, "Could this person be Zhang Fei, Zhang Yide?"

All that could be seen was Zhang Fei in the distance, sheathing his spear, turning his horse around, and charging back, completely shattering the formation of the flank troops.

"General, what should we do?"

Guan Zhu, who had just returned, was also shocked and couldn't understand how the situation had suddenly taken such a turn for the worse.

Zang Ba was no mediocre general; he knew the principle that hesitation leads to chaos.

Faced with this situation, he actually resisted the urge to divide his troops again to block Chen Deng and Zhang Fei's forces, and instead resolutely ordered the rear guard to retreat.

At the same time, he ordered his personal guards to rush back to the city to report, and ordered the archers to retreat first, and then immediately go up the city wall to cover the main force of the army.

Orders were issued one after another, and the Taishan Army sprang into action.

Because of their advantageous battlefield position, the Taishan Army easily broke free from the Danyang Army's entanglement and successfully escaped.

Subsequently, Zang Ba dispatched a contingent of soldiers to reinforce the defeated flanks, attempting to regroup them as much as possible, while the rear guard formed the last line of defense, slowly retreating.

Cao Bao suddenly felt the pressure on the front line lessen. He had originally planned to send his reserve troops up the front, and the messenger who was supposed to transfer reinforcements to the flanks had already set off.

As a result, the Taishan army actually retreated.

When Cao Bao first heard this report, he almost killed the messenger, thinking he was giving a false report.

But then cheers erupted from the army ranks ahead, which made Cao Bao suspicious.

Soon, his personal guards returned to report that the Taishan Army had indeed retreated, and very decisively at that, with the ranged troops simply turning around and running towards the city.

Other troops were also retreating, while the rear guard began to form ranks, appearing to be covering the rear.

Cao Bao breathed a sigh of relief, but then a surge of anger welled up inside him, and he roared, "Tie up that bastard Cao Ruyi and bring her here!"

After Zhang Fei broke through the formation of a thousand men, he continued to wreak havoc, scattering the formation into pieces.

The infantry behind charged forward, completely disintegrating and turning into fragments as they fled towards Kaiyang City.

Zhang Fei pursued them calmly, cutting off pieces of fat like butchering a fat pig and tossing them to the infantry behind him.

By the time the fleeing soldiers were finally stopped and gathered up by Zang Ba's rear army, only three or four hundred men remained.

Most of them were taken prisoner, while a small number died under the hooves of horses and spears.

Facing Zang Ba personally in command, with two fierce generals, Guan Zhu and Zhang Yu, leading a reserve of armored soldiers to reinforce the enemy, and even a cavalry force of more than thirty men lurking far behind, ready to launch a flanking attack at any time.

Zhang Fei did not charge rashly, but stopped outside the formation.

Liu Bei did not have many cavalrymen, especially warhorses, which were more precious than people.

No matter how crazy Uncle Zhang is, he can't possibly actually charge head-on into the tortoise shell.

As for the wave just now, there was another reason.

Perhaps it was because the victory on the main battlefield was too easy that it infected the Taishan Army on the flank.

Seeing that his own troops were in high spirits, Lu Ling decided to set a trap to kill Zhang Fei and his few dozen cavalrymen.

Unexpectedly, the trap failed, and Zhang Fei seized the opportunity to break through the formation, repeatedly ravaging it until it finally collapsed completely.

Lu Ling's Taishan Army can be considered brave and resourceful, but their hardware conditions are a bit lacking. They wanted to set a trap to catch the tiger, but they didn't expect that the net was not strong enough and they were eaten by the tiger instead.

If Lu Ling had been more careful in the future, he would have grown into a good general. It's just a pity that he didn't have a future.

Lu Ling was eager to make a name for himself, so he personally led his men to set a trap. However, he did not expect that Master Zhang would break the trap with his strength, kill Lu Ling on the spot, break out of the encirclement, and at the same time take the opportunity to disrupt the formation, and finally break out of the formation.

Now, Lu Ling's head has been trampled into minced meat by Zhang Sanye's horse hooves.

Zhang Fei looked back and saw that although Chen Deng and Cao Bao had already led the troops in pursuit, it was indeed too late.

Here, the enemy is only a mile away from the range of arrows from the city wall. They are fighting and retreating, and with cavalry covering their flanks, we have no chance of breaking through their lines again.

Not to mention that even if they succeeded in breaking through the formation, they would be charging headlong into the killing range of the powerful bows and crossbows on the city wall, which would be nothing short of suicide.

Sure enough, Zang Ba then personally led the cavalry and heavily armored soldiers to cover the rear army's retreat. The entire army was extremely cautious, and there was even a platoon of crossbowmen on high alert, just in case Zhang Sanye broke through the lines.

Even after entering the protected area of ​​the city wall, they remained on high alert and refused to relax.

Seeing that there was no advantage to be gained, Zhang Fei led his troops away.

The first battle between the two sides thus came to an end.

Zang Ba broke through a major formation of the Danyang army, causing heavy casualties among the two thousand soldiers, with at least 30% of them losing their lives.

If we add the casualties on the left and right flanks, the casualties of the Danyang soldiers would be around a thousand.

It was only thanks to Zhang Fei's victory that the Danyang soldiers could have suffered two or three thousand casualties today, had the Taishan army continued its fierce attack. The Taishan army's losses were actually similar; the main force covering the main force on the flank collapsed and was then pursued and cut off by Zhang Fei's cavalry, resulting in the loss of five or six hundred men.

On the main force side, only about four hundred people were lost, with a total loss of around a thousand.

However, the main force had the advantage, partly due to the Taishan Army covering the battlefield and partly due to the Taishan Army taking the initiative to disengage.

Therefore, of the more than 400 men lost by the Taishan Army on the main battlefield, in addition to those who died on the spot and more than 100 who were seriously wounded, the other more than 200 wounded soldiers also retreated safely with the troops.

The two sides appeared to have fought to a draw, with one winning and one losing, and their losses were almost identical.

In reality, it was Liu Bei's army that suffered a great loss.

With three times the number of troops, they only managed a draw, and the enemy even went out of the city to fight in the open field. It was a huge disgrace.

However, in the end, Zang Ba suffered much more than Liu Bei's army.

After all, he only had four thousand men in total, and he launched a full-scale attack with the idea of ​​completely eliminating Cao Bao in one battle.

Now that Cao Bao hadn't been killed, and Zang Ba had even lost a quarter of his men, he was heartbroken and almost cried.

Not to mention that Liu Bei's army ultimately controlled the battlefield, which meant that all the weapons and armor belonged to the enemy.

Based on Zang Ba's 60% armor coverage rate, among the more than 600 people who couldn't be brought back, at least 400 sets of armor would be lost, including several sets of iron armor. This is a number that Zang Ba couldn't accumulate in a year.

In the end, judging from the outcome of the war, Chen Deng successfully blocked Zang Ba's attack and ruined Zang Ba's plan to break out of the encirclement. From this point of view, the Xuzhou army won a great victory no matter what.

The two sides fought fiercely for only an hour, leaving behind hundreds of corpses.

The sky was still bright, and the soldiers of Xiapi County continued to prepare their barracks and fortifications.

Under Cao Bao's command, apart from sending a thousand men to gather the defeated troops, the rest were all sent to build fortifications.

The Danyang soldiers suffered a huge loss of face in this battle, almost causing the entire army to collapse, and may even become the culprit of the entire war.

Cao Bao felt very guilty at this moment, because the commander-in-chief was Chen Deng.
Cao Bao had previously harbored resentment towards Liu Bei, wondering why he couldn't be made the commander-in-chief, given that he was far superior to Chen Deng in both official rank and military experience.

But he also knew that Chen Deng was Liu Bei's most trusted confidant, his closest confidant, and they were practically inseparable.

It would indeed be asking too much of someone to let them surpass Chen Deng and become the commander-in-chief.

Moreover, at least he was given the position of deputy commander, which made Cao Bao feel much better.

More importantly, Liu Bei personally promised him that after the victory, he would promote Cao Bao to the position of Chancellor of Xiapi, and asked him to do his best to assist Chen Deng and help him achieve merit. This would also be a good opportunity to ease the tension between them.

Liu Bei's words pleased Cao Bao quite a bit. He put himself in the position of a senior, guiding the junior Chen Deng and helping him to succeed. That wasn't a bad idea, was it?

But reality was like a bucket of cold water, poured over Cao Bao's head.

Instead of helping Chen Deng, he was the one who was saved by Chen Deng.

When Cao Bao went to the commander's tent to see Chen Deng a little later, he didn't know how to explain the battle that had just taken place.

Thinking of this, Cao Bao felt a surge of hatred.

However, the person he hated to the core was not Chen Deng, but his own cousin Cao Ruyi.

"Have you found that beast Cao Ruyi?"

"Not yet. Captain Cao ran towards the riverbank, and those who went there only found the armor on the riverbank, but they didn't find the person."

"What a beast!"

Cao Bao was furious. This beast was so fast! Judging from its posture, was it going to swim across the Yi River and escape to the other side?
Cao Bao was furious, while Zang Ba was so angry he cried.

A perfectly good victory was squandered at the last minute.

When they tried to vent their anger on someone, they discovered that Lu Ling, the commander of the detachment responsible for covering the main force on the flank, had already been killed in action.

Zang Ba had to reluctantly offer condolences to Lu Ling, after all, Lu Ling was one of his trusted and beloved generals.

People have died fighting for you. Are you going to enforce military law again and drag the dead out to behead them again?

Moreover, beyond the law, there is also human sentiment; morale and the morale of the troops must be taken into account at this time.

Therefore, Zang Ba sent people out of the city to try to redeem the bodies of Na Luling, the wounded, and the soldiers of the Taishan Army who died in battle.

At the same time, Zang Ba ordered Zang Ai to quickly gather the able-bodied men in the city and incorporate them into the army in preparation for future battles.

Zang Ai didn't understand why Zang Ba was in such a hurry, so the latter had to explain it to him.

"Liu Bei's army launched a sudden attack, cutting off our army's route out of the city by water. Jiqiu is no exception; he's right under Tancheng's nose. Even if he hasn't fallen yet, he's certainly surrounded."

“Zengcheng is too far away and communication is inconvenient, so we don’t need to think about it. Right now, the only places we can contact are Yangdu and Linyi. Since the main road has been cut off by the enemy, we can only send people out of the city to sneak into the enemy camp. In this way, it will take at least two or three days for Yangdu and Linyi to know about our situation here.”

"These two or three days are enough time for Liu Bei's army to set up camp at key passes and block the reinforcements from Yangdu and Linyi. At that time, Kaiyang will ultimately have to be broken through by ourselves."

Zang Ai then realized that his side had no reinforcements.

Zang Ba's desperate struggle was mainly aimed at creating a time gap.

Although his allies cannot come to his aid, they will certainly be able to tie down some of the Xuzhou army for him.

If Liu Bei's army outside the city can be defeated while this period of restraint is still effective, the situation will immediately reverse, allowing him to turn the tide in his desperate situation.

This idea is indeed correct, and it fully demonstrates Zang Ba's strategy, ability, courage, and confidence.

Unfortunately, the intelligence gap was still too large.

Zang Ba had no idea that Chen Deng had a large number of reinforcements on their way; otherwise, he might not have had the energy to cause such a ruckus.

After returning to camp, Zhang Fei left the task of setting up camp to his two military commanders, while he had his personal guards bring water to boil and wash himself.

After the fierce battle just now, Zhang Fei led his cavalry to break through the enemy's traps and repeatedly launched surprise attacks, making him the hero of today's battle.

When Zhang Fei returned to camp, he was almost completely soaked in sweat.

If Liu Feng were here, he would definitely advise Zhang Fei not to rush to remove his armor. If he didn't remove it properly and caught a chill, he would end up like Chang Yuchun, who was killed by the wind.

Fortunately, it is winter now, so although Zhang Fei is covered in sweat from fighting, the probability of him catching a cold after removing his armor is very small.

Soon, Zhang Fei finished drinking his tea in big gulps and started taking a bath.

That evening, in the central command tent of the main camp, Zhang Sanye washed himself clean, changed into a casual robe, and came to the outside of the tent.

"This humble general, Zhang Fei, requests an audience with the Commander-in-Chief."

That's right, Master Zhang is indeed a snob who favors the rich and the poor. No, he's a snob who favors scholars. He treats ordinary people in the same way, soldiers and officials are too rough and cruel, but he is well-regarded by scholars and nobles.

Compared to later staying overnight at Liu Ba's house and refusing to leave even in the middle of the night, it is perfectly reasonable for him to enter the commander's tent at night to report on the war situation.

"General Zhang, please come in."

Inside the commander's tent, Chen Deng was having a meal. With the army out in the field and affairs so numerous, it wasn't until the moon had risen halfway up the sky that Chen Deng finally had time to eat a cold meal.

Although the food was cold, Chen Deng ate it with great relish. When he saw Zhang Fei arrive, he even invited him to have some with him.

Zhang Fei had already eaten his fill, but when Chen Deng invited him, he immediately said that he was also hungry.

Chen Deng immediately ordered another serving. Zhang Fei picked up his rice bowl and chatted with Chen Deng while eating in small bites.

There's no way around it, this bowl is just too small. If Third Master is willing, he can finish it in two or three bites. But wouldn't that leave Chen Yuanlong with a bad impression of being a glutton?

The two did not at all observe the principle of "not speaking while eating or sleeping" as advocated by Confucius.

While eating and chatting, after finishing the meal, Chen Deng specially offered Zhang Fei a bowl of tea instead of wine to thank him for his risky charge that day, which resulted in a great victory over the Taishan army and saved the critical situation.

Zhang Fei was so happy he couldn't stop smiling. He kept being modest, but his round eyes narrowed into slits with laughter. Only at the end did he remember to praise Chen Deng for his decisive command and overall insight, saying that he himself was just a brave individual.

Just then, a guard came to report that Cao Bao had also arrived and was requesting an audience with Chen Deng outside the commander's tent.

(End of this chapter)