My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 151 A Great Defeat to Qiao Rui
As soon as Sun Tong died, his personal guards rushed at Zhou Tai like madmen. Zhou Tai, however, did not show any weakness. He stepped back and, together with his guards, killed them all.

Only then did Pan Zhang arrive, looking at Sun Tong on the ground with only half his face remaining, and said sullenly, "This thief is afraid of me."

Zhou Tai agreed earnestly, saying, "Indeed, as Wen Gui said, this thief dares not face Wen Gui in person."

Pan Zhang's anger turned to joy, and he burst into laughter: "Youping tricked me, hahahaha."

After saying that, the two of them joined forces, and in an instant, the heavily armored infantry opposite them became a menacing force.

The death of the military commander in battle had already severely impacted morale.

If it weren't for the fact that the heavily armored infantry were so elite, other troops would have collapsed by now.

However, these heavily armored warriors, led by their officers, huddled together and resisted the heavily armored soldiers of Xuzhou, trying to hold their ground and wait for reinforcements.

Under normal circumstances, these heavily armored soldiers might actually be able to hold out until reinforcements arrive and turn the tide.

But on the other side were two formidable figures, Pan Zhang and Zhou Tai, who specifically targeted the enemy's officers who led from the front and were brave and daring in battle.

When the two of them act together, almost no one can stop them.

Not to mention stopping their advance, they couldn't even be seen in a single battle.

These heavily armored warriors could no longer hold on. They watched helplessly as one officer after another, renowned for their martial prowess, died at the hands of Pan Zhang and Zhou Tai, unable to even make the enemy pause for a moment.

This is undoubtedly terrifying.

So much so that Yuan Shu's heavy infantry even thought that Pan Zhang and Zhou Tai had surpassed the realm of human bravery and were demons or monsters in disguise.

Finally, Yuan Shu's heavily armored infantry collapsed, began to break apart from their group, and fled.

However, the light infantry who had been following behind the Xuzhou army's heavy infantry rushed out, splitting into two groups. One group rescued their own wounded heavy infantrymen, while the other group chased after Yuan Shu's heavy infantry, pulling and pushing them down. Then, several of them rushed forward and restrained the enemy's hands and feet.

If the opponent surrenders, spare their life. If they resist and refuse to surrender, kill them directly through the gaps in their heavy armor using armor-piercing weapons or thin blades.

Because most of these soldiers were lightly armored, or even unarmored, they could easily catch up with a large number of heavily armored infantry.

When the reinforcements on the other side saw the heavy infantry in such a terrible state, instead of speeding up to come to their aid, they were so frightened that they stood frozen on the spot.

This is understandable. Pan Zhang and Zhou Tai had already fought two battles. First, they dispersed the enemy's front-line leather-armored captain, and then they defeated Yuan Shu's elite iron-armored cavalry. They had utterly annihilated Yuan Shu's army and severely damaged their morale.

Moreover, behind Pan Zhang and Zhou Tai's troops, the spread-out formation revealed the long spear formation behind them.

The lightly armed auxiliary soldiers dragged the wounded armored soldiers into the gaps in the middle of the spear formation to prevent them from being trampled to death while blocking the formation.

At this point, the pikemen phalanx would not be able to make way for these comrades, which would lead to extremely serious consequences.

Fortunately, the lightly armed auxiliary troops were well-manned, and Pan Zhang and Zhou Tai were also helping out.

To soldiers of all sides, these two men were like monsters. Despite fighting the entire battle, they were wearing heavy armor and dragging other wounded soldiers to avoid the spear formation.

Yuan Shu's army began to hesitate and retreat, while the Xuzhou army had gained the upper hand.

Qiao Rui brought 10,000 men this time, divided into five schools, each with 2,000 men, and each school was commanded by a captain.

Today, due to the terrain, Qiao Rui only brought 8,000 men to the battle, while another squad was left in the main camp.

At the beginning of the battle, Qiao Rui placed Su Dai's troops and Chen Zhi's troops on the two flanks respectively, while Lu Ding's troops, the most elite middle-ranking officers, were placed in the core position in front of the siege tower.

These schools had all had some archers withdrawn from their posts, so they were all understaffed, with only about 1,800 people.

However, the front lines of Su Dai and Chen Zhi's troops are now on the verge of collapse, and they have no choice but to send their rear guard to hold up the defensive line.

At the same time, the two also gathered up the defeated soldiers from the previous battle, intending to fill the defensive line.

After Su Dai and Chen Zhi faced off against Zhao Yunjun, they were clearly no match for him. So far, they had been repeatedly attacked and pushed back twenty or thirty meters, almost reaching the level of the well tower.

However, the situation on the main battlefield was clearly worse. Not only had the captain at the front line collapsed, but even the heavy infantry unit that Qiao Rui had specially assigned to him, the Sima unit, had been wiped out.

As a result, more than 3,000 men were tied down on both flanks of the battlefield, and more than 1,000 men in the central army were defeated, leaving only more than 3,000 men, a small portion of whom were archers.

The enemy archers had also reached the front lines and were exchanging fire with the archers at the siege tower.

Since the enemy has already entered the firing range, and the siege tower cannot be moved easily, the increased firing range is completely wasted. The only remaining advantage is the high vantage point, which can increase the lethality.

But Yuan Shu's archers were also caught in a dilemma.

If you attack a phalanx of spearmen, you will be killed by the enemy archers.

If they were to counterattack the enemy archers, the archers on the siege towers felt that their infantry would not be able to hold out at all.

The Xuzhou army naturally wouldn't give Yuan Shu's army time to think.

Yuan Shu's army's rear guard dared not advance, but the Xuzhou army did.

They walked straight toward the well balustrade, and anyone who tried to stop them was either slapped, smashed, stabbed, or provoked, quickly disrupting their formation.

Qiao Rui was at a loss, and seeing that his rear was about to be breached, his personal guards quickly pulled him down from the well railing, then mounted his horse and galloped towards the camp.

Once Qiao Rui fled, Yuan Shu's entire army completely collapsed.

Most of the soldiers abandoned their armor and fled towards the camp, while the archers on the siege tower were even more anxious, trying to climb down in a rush, but the crowd made them even slower.

Some in a hurry even jumped off the well curb, which naturally didn't end well.

The Xuzhou army timely released Taishi Ci's cavalry, who pounced and slaughtered along the way, while the light infantry sliced ​​through the fleeing army piece by piece.

Because Wu Jing was the furthest away, followed by Sun Ce, the three armies attacked simultaneously, so Qiao Rui waited in place and did not attack first.

This led to the situation where, by the time news of the Xuzhou army's attack and the crushing defeat of Qiao Rui's army arrived, some of Sun Ce's troops were already entangled with the defending forces.

Sun Ce reacted quickly, immediately sending over a thousand of Sun Jian's old troops, his most treasured force, to be led by his cousin Xu Kun.

At the same time, Sun Ce pulled Xu Kun aside and said, "Cousin, save Qiao Rui if you can, otherwise forget about him. The most important thing is to protect ourselves and not lose our entire foundation. If things go wrong, come to me immediately. As long as we stick together with Uncle, the Xuzhou army won't be able to wipe us out."

Xu Kun nodded emphatically, then gave a shout and led Sun Jian's old troops toward Qiao Rui. Leading the way were Cheng Pu's more than one hundred cavalrymen, who not only shielded Xu Kun from the battlefield but also gathered intelligence and bought Xu Kun time to deploy his troops at crucial moments.

However, all of this was no longer necessary. When Cheng Pu's cavalry arrived at the dividing point between the west and south of the city, as soon as they turned the corner, they saw that the enemy had completely collapsed. Soldiers were running everywhere in disarray, with the largest group running towards the main camp and a small number running towards him.

Cheng Pu decisively turned around: "Let's go back! All of you, go back!"

The cavalrymen turned around and followed Cheng Pu.

Soon, Cheng Pu met Xu Kun: "Going back is pointless. Qiao Rui is finished. Going there now will only lead to his destruction by the chaotic soldiers. Let's go back and find Bo Fu."

Xu Kun immediately ordered his troops to turn back and find Sun Ce.

Sure enough, shortly after he ordered them to turn around, the mutinous soldiers of Qiao Rui's tribe came into view. Behind them were the shadows of Xuzhou light infantry and cavalry.

When Wu Jing learned that the Xuzhou army had sent troops to the south of the city, his expression turned grim.

Previously, he didn't think much of the Xuzhou soldiers. In his opinion, these Danyang soldiers had poor discipline and were spoiled by Tao Qian. They were good at disturbing the people, but really no good at fighting.

However, the performance of the Xuzhou army on the night of Sun Ce's night raid on Guangling was quite astonishing.

After Sun Ce returned, he did not hide anything or want to see others make a fool of themselves. Instead, he told them in detail about the fighting strength of the Xuzhou army.

Yuan Shu's assessment of the Xuzhou army then changed.

However, not all of them believed that the Xuzhou army was so capable; after all, a raid on a city would certainly involve sending out the most elite troops. The existence of Pan Zhang's Ironclad Cavalry unit proved this point.

How can someone who isn't an elite soldier be equipped with a full set of iron armor?

If only elite troops are capable of contending with Bo Fu, then this war will continue.

But now it seems that even if the main force of the Xuzhou army is not as strong as the elite troops, it is still quite formidable.

Although Qiao Rui was not a great general, he was one of the better generals in Yuan Shu's army.

Despite having superior numbers and a strong defense, the army still collapsed so quickly; the actual combat strength of the two sides was vastly different. Sun Ce began to regroup his troops and simultaneously set a trap, intending to lure Qian Zhao out.

But Qian Zhao was very cautious; he didn't even glance at the bait before retreating.

Having no other option, Sun Ce had to withdraw from the area covered by the city wall and wait for Wu Jing's troops to rejoin him.

Wu Jing was extremely experienced, and arrangements had already been made at the North Gate. He only defended and did not attack. He had deployed two thousand soldiers and two thousand able-bodied men, with rolling stones and logs readily available. He did not seek merit, but only to avoid mistakes.

Wu Jing searched for a long time but couldn't find a weakness. He tried several probing attacks, wanting to increase the pressure, when Sun Ce's message arrived.

Upon hearing that Yuan Shu's personal troops at Qiao Rui were in dire straits, Wu Jing immediately gathered his troops together without hesitation, abandoned the heavy siege equipment such as siege towers and battering rams, and began to move westward from the city.

Before long, Sun Ce and Wu Jing joined forces and had a force of ten thousand.

Given their size, the Xuzhou army, which had just fought a fierce battle, would only break their own teeth if they tried to take them down.

"Bo Fu, what do we do now?"

Wu Jing rode up to Sun Ce and asked for his opinion.

Sun Ce cracked his whip: "Let's go back. The Xuzhou army should have sounded the retreat by now."

Wu Jing laughed and said, "What if they use the mutinous soldiers as a vanguard to launch another attack on the main camp?"

"If the other party is really that kind, then I would really be impolite to refuse."

Sun Ce laughed out loud. Only a madman would continue attacking the main camp. Their twelve thousand men were completely unharmed and could appear on the flank at any moment; they would be easy prey.

But thinking about it carefully, even Qiao Rui wouldn't be that stupid.

Sure enough, by the time Sun Ce and Wu Jing arrived at the south of the city, the Xuzhou army had already sounded the retreat and returned to the city with a full haul of spoils.

Sun Ce waved his hand, ordering his cavalry to cover the battlefield while his light infantry went out to rescue the wounded.

Unfortunately, there weren't many injured players on the field; many had their armor removed and were transported back to the city.

What puzzled Sun Ce was that while the bodies of Yuan Shu's soldiers closer to the camp were relatively well-preserved, the bodies of those further away were also undecapitated.

At this time, Sun Ce was unaware that the Xuzhou army, especially the troops under Liu Feng's influence, generally valued team merits more than heads. Moreover, they strictly forbade their soldiers from taking heads.

The heads are taken by auxiliary soldiers and light infantry, but their priority is far lower than that of weapons, armor and other supplies.

Therefore, after the Xuzhou army defeated Qiao Rui's army, their main focus was on collecting military equipment and supplies, rather than heads, which explains the strange scene that Sun Ce and Wu Jing witnessed.

Wu Jingyi said meaningfully, "It seems that the other side left in a hurry, probably because they were worried about us returning to reinforce them."

Sun Ce shook his head: "I don't think so. If the other side were really in a hurry to leave, they wouldn't have handled everything so cleanly. It's more like they deliberately didn't cut off the heads. No, they should have left the cutting off of heads for last."

"impossible?"

Wu Jing was startled. Everyone knew that a severed head was a military achievement, and a very valuable one at that. Yuan Shu's army could even fight over the ownership of a severed head.

These Xuzhou troops are truly strange.

Now that the Xuzhou army has withdrawn, Sun Ce and Wu Jing can no longer stand idly outside.

The entire southern part of the city was in ruins, with the corpses of fallen soldiers everywhere, and many siege weapons still burning.

Sun Ce and Wu Jing decided to return to their camp first.

The two returned to the camp, where Sun Ben sent men to greet them at the entrance.

Upon learning from this person that Qiao Rui was alright, Sun Ce and Wu Jing finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they all felt they had placed Qiao Rui in the safest position, unless he was to guard the main camp, Yuan Shu insisted that Qiao Rui participate in the siege.

Sun Ce, Wu Jing, and Sun Ben all knew that Yuan Shu had always valued Qiao Rui and Zhang Xun, precisely because he wanted to cultivate them into generals.

After all, almost all of Yuan Shu's capable subordinates were from the Sun family. Even Zhu Zhi, the Wu Commandery Commandant, who was the most distant relative, was a former protégé and official of Sun Jian, and thus one of his own, even if their blood ties were broken.

Moreover, when Sun Ben and Wu Jing were forced to retreat to Liyang after Liu Yao's sudden uprising and they were driven across the Yangtze River, Sun Ce's mother, aunt, and siblings were all in Wu Commandery.

If it weren't for Zhu Zhi's intervention, protecting Sun Ce's family and secretly using his connections to send them to Jiangdu, Sun Ce would have lost his mother.

Therefore, Sun Ce was extremely grateful to Zhu Zhi, and this also shows which side Zhu Zhi would choose between the Sun family and the Yuan family.

Sun Ce didn't know whether others were worried, but he knew that Yuan Shu must be very worried.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have repeatedly broken his promises, taking away his own prefecture position and giving it to others, while sending himself and Qiao Rui and Zhang Xun to fight battles everywhere.

If Qiao Rui were to die here, one can imagine that Yuan Shu would be furious and might even begin to suspect the Sun family's intentions.

As things stand, the Sun family still cannot do without Yuan Shu. All of the Sun family's official positions and titles are due to Yuan Shu's appointment, and Sun Ce has also deeply offended the Lu family of Jiangdong.

If the Sun family loses Yuan Shu's support at this time, even if they do not immediately fall apart, they will find it difficult to establish a foothold.

Entering the main tent, Qiao Rui sat on the couch, his clothes disheveled, his face blank, clearly still unable to recover from the crushing defeat.

Qiao Rui felt that everything was happening too fast. Whether it was the dispatch of troops from Xuzhou, the attack, the fierce battle, or the crushing defeat, it all happened too quickly.

I didn't even have time to react, so how did I lose?

Thinking it over carefully, I realized that my actions and responses weren't particularly wrong, so how come I couldn't even last an hour?

"Shengde, victory and defeat are common occurrences in war."

Qiao Rui, courtesy name Shengde.

When Sun Ce saw that Qiao Rui was safe and sound, he breathed a sigh of relief, walked to his side, and squeezed the other's shoulder tightly: "We will fight again another day and return the favor. A true man should hold his head high in the world. How can he be discouraged by a mere small defeat?"

Qiao Rui looked up and saw Sun Ce, whose spirited and energetic appearance was still as dazzling as ever.

“Bo Fu, but I…”

"Alright, Shengde, we also bear responsibility for this defeat. We failed to hold back the Xuzhou army, leaving you to fight alone."

Sun Ce put his arm around the other man's shoulder and patted his chest, saying, "I will explain to General Zuo at this time that we were all at fault for this minor defeat, not just Shengde."

“Bo Fu…”

Qiao Rui was deeply moved, feeling that Sun Ce was a close friend who had come to his aid at this critical moment, which touched him greatly.

Afterwards, everyone began to discuss what to do next.

The situation outside was constantly being tallied and sent to the main tent.

Sun Ce and Wu Jing's forces suffered little damage, but Qiao Rui's forces did suffer heavy casualties.

The entire Ironclad Sima unit was completely wiped out. Only twenty or thirty people managed to escape, and they lost almost all their equipment.

The casualties in the previous battle were huge, with more than 30% of the troops killed.

The only slightly better-off was the central battalion, but even there, casualties were as high as 20%.

The strength of the Xuzhou army was indeed far superior to that of Yuan Shu's army.

Aside from Sun Ce, who had a direct confrontation with the Xuzhou army and possessed the clearest understanding of them, Sun Ben and Wu Jing couldn't help but put themselves in the Xuzhou army's shoes. However, they discovered that it wouldn't be easy for them to defeat Qiao Rui, and they couldn't do it so quickly.

The most likely scenario is that they have the initiative and advantage, but are unable to break through the enemy in one fell swoop and achieve a complete victory, thus dragging the battle out until Sun Ce's army and Sun Ben's army in the main camp come to their aid.

This conclusion is quite alarming. Doesn't it mean that the fighting strength of Sun's army is inferior to that of the Xuzhou army?

However, the Xuzhou army's past performance has been quite embarrassing. Apart from fighting the Yellow Turban rebels and local county troops, they have never won a single battle.

Lian Po is not old! He's back to his old self after the fever subsides! I'll keep writing, but I dare not make any promises. Brothers and sisters, don't wait for the second chapter; consider it a surprise if it comes.

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(End of this chapter)