My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 243 Battle of Yingyang
The Yellow Turban Army is making adjustments, and Liu Feng's side is also making adjustments.

However, Liu Feng's actions were more decisive, and his adjustment progress far exceeded that of the Yellow Turban Army.

When He Luan led 5,000 Yellow Turbans out of the west gate of Yingyin, crossed the Yi River, and headed for Yingyang, Liu Feng had already successfully joined forces with Taishi Ci's troops outside Yingyang.

Yingyang is a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is bordered by the Yi River to the west, and even uses the Yi River as a moat. The terrain to the north is also unfavorable. If you set up a formation here, you will be trapped in the encirclement of Yingyang City and the Yi River, which is the same as setting up a formation with your back to the river. This is a major taboo in military strategy.

Contrary to popular belief, the practice of "standing with one's back to the river" has always been a major taboo in military strategy, and it is not a particularly impressive tactic.

Throughout history, only one and a half people have ever managed to fight a battle with their backs to the river and still win.

One of them was Han Xin, one of the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty, who was the originator of many people's misunderstanding of the concept of "standing with one's back to the river".

The other half is Liu Yu.

Why is Liu Yu only half a [him/her]?
Because Liu Yu had a large navy on the river that could provide him with a continuous supply of support. They could carry arrows, shields and other military supplies across the river, and also send away the wounded and replenish their ranks.

Those who fought with their backs to the wall mostly perished miserably.

Even though Han Xin was able to defeat the Zhao army by standing with his back to the river, his trump card was other coordinated methods, not just standing with his back to the river.

Liu Feng was not so arrogant as to compare himself to Han Xin, so they decisively set up their main camp in the northeast direction, avoiding due north.

There is a reason why the main camp was set up here.

At this point, the Xuzhou army only had one supply line left: food transported from Yangdi.

Yangdi is located northwest of Yingyang. Because of the Yi River, Liu Feng could not set up camp in the northwest. Otherwise, every time he attacked the city, his army would have to cross the Yi River first, and after the battle, they would have to cross the Yi River again at night to return to camp to sleep.

Therefore, the main camp could only be set up in the northwest of Yingyang, while a smaller camp was set up on the opposite bank of the Yi River to house the transported grain and military equipment.

Just three days after the main camp was settled, scouts brought news that a contingent of the Yellow Turban army from Yingyin, numbering about five or six thousand, had arrived outside Yingyang City and was still a day's journey away.

Liu Feng immediately summoned all his generals. Except for Guan Ping, who was stationed at Xiaoying, and Jia Kui, who was stationed at Yangdi, all the other generals were present.

Liu Feng then explained the situation to the generals in a simplified manner.

Then, deep thought fell in the tent.

Liu Feng's gaze swept over the generals, and he felt a little excited as he looked at Taishi Ci, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang.

Surely half of the top cavalry generals in the North are on our side?

Taishi Ci, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang may seem similar at first glance, but their inner differences are actually quite significant.

Taishi Ci was a typical hero from humble origins during the Han Dynasty, a member of a powerful family during the transition from aristocratic to aristocratic.

The Taishi family was actually quite powerful in Donglai, Qingzhou. Otherwise, Taishi Ci would not have been able to become the chief official of the prefecture at such a young age, and even be able to submit important memorials to the prefect.

This was highly valued, and Taishi Ci's loyalty and righteousness ensured that he did not disappoint this high regard.

But the power of the Taishi family ended there; they couldn't exert any more strength. This led to a serious problem later on: after Taishi Ci risked his life, the Taishi family embarrassingly discovered that they were not capable of reaping the rewards.

Taishi Ci also possessed a cunning side, which was fully demonstrated in his deception of the state messenger.

Even with such great achievements, Taishi Ci did not receive a generous reward or a renowned reputation. Instead, he was forced to flee to Liaodong and was unable to return home for several years.

Ultimately, this was because the Taishi Ci family was not a prominent clan and lacked influence, preventing Taishi Ci from gaining fame and leaving him powerless to do anything but watch his cultivated fruits rot in the ground.

Let alone Yuan Shao, even if it were a eunuch or aristocratic family like Cao Cao in a different place, Cao Cao's protégés, former officials, and relatives would spread the news throughout most of the Central Plains in a very short time, and Cao Cao himself would receive extremely rich rewards.

This is the difference between powerful clans and aristocratic families.

It was this setback that made Taishi Ci somewhat blindly believe in famous figures later in life.

Kong Rong did not trust him. Judging from the historical records, it can be seen that when Kong Rong comforted Taishi Ci's mother, he did not really appreciate Taishi Ci. He merely used Taishi Ci as a tool to demonstrate his respect for scholars.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why, if Kong Rong so admired Taishi Ci's righteous deeds, Taishi Ci stormed into Duchang and asked Kong Rong for two thousand soldiers, willing to help Kong Rong break the Yellow Turban siege.

Kong Rong, however, resolutely refused, not only because he did not trust Taishi Ci's abilities, but also because he did not trust Taishi Ci as a person.

His appreciation and high regard for Taishi Ci were not worth two thousand county soldiers.

However, Taishi Ci was not discouraged and stayed by Kong Rong's side to look for opportunities. If it was only to repay a debt of gratitude, given Taishi Ci's temperament, that would be really hard to believe.

Furthermore, when Taishi Ci later went to Liu Yao's place, Liu Yao still looked down on him, but Taishi Ci remained loyal and devoted.

It can only be said that during his years in Liaodong, Taishi Ci did indeed reflect. Regardless of whether his views were right or wrong, he did summarize a valuable lesson: only a renowned scholar can accomplish great things.

In this timeline, Taishi Ci only suffered a blow from Kong Rong. Before he could even head south to join Liu Yao, he received an invitation from Liu Bei.

At the same time, under Liu Bei's guidance, he also got the opportunity to fully utilize his talents, something he had always dreamed of.

Liu Bei even entrusted his eldest son, Liu Feng, with the important task of teaching him archery and horsemanship.

Although archery and horsemanship cannot compare to classical studies, this archery and horsemanship teacher is still a proper teacher.

Taishi Ci's state of mind changed once again. He felt that being favored and recruited by Liu Bei was the greatest fortune of his life.

Although he didn't say it aloud, Taishi Ci had already secretly vowed in his heart that he was willing to die for Liu Bei and his son.

Zhang Liao is different from Taishi Ci. He is from a border region. Although he is as loyal and righteous as Taishi Ci and Xu Huang, he is also more frivolous and suspicious than other border warriors.

This is also the main reason why, despite his dissatisfaction with Lü Bu, he could never leave Lü Bu's side.

Because he trusted the other feudal lords even less.

Now that he has met Liu Bei and Guan Yu, and Liu Feng respects him greatly, Zhang Liao is quite satisfied with his current life and is eager to try his luck again and make new contributions.

Xu Huang was somewhere between Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao. He was the most steady by nature, and Hedong Commandery was located between a border commandery and an inner commandery.

He was satisfied with the present, but unlike Zhang Liao, he wasn't eager to make a name for himself.

After a moment of silence in the tent, Zhang Liao was the first to jump out and volunteer for battle.

"Young Master, Liao only requests two thousand elite cavalry, which can wipe out the enemy that comes to our aid."

Zhang Liao rose and knelt on one knee before Liu Feng, clasping his hands in a fist and saying, "If anything goes wrong, I am willing to accept military punishment."

Liu Feng rose and helped Zhang Liao up, praising him, "I am well aware of General Zhang's courage to fight. Please return to your seat."

Then Liu Feng said, "This enemy force is quite cunning. After leaving Yingyin, they did not go directly to Yingyang, but detoured to Fenqiu in the south, and then turned north from there, following the Ying River all the way north, preparing to enter Yingyang from the south gate."

It must be said that He Luan's military talent was truly remarkable.

If he were to charge straight towards Yingyang from the main road, he would truly be delivering merits to the Xuzhou army.

But by taking this detour, although the journey takes an extra day and a half, his safety is greatly increased.

Especially during the last and most dangerous stretch of the journey, he marched along the Ying River the entire way, which meant that one side of the army did not need to be defended. This was undoubtedly a brilliant move when facing the Xuzhou army, which had an absolute advantage in cavalry.

As we all know, human armies have been particularly afraid of being attacked from both sides since their inception.

In this way, what's even more advantageous is that if the army in Yingyang were to launch an attack to support this force, they would only need to worry about danger from one direction.

Liu Feng glanced at Taishi Ci and Xu Huang, only to find that neither of them intended to speak or volunteer; they were simply focused on obeying his orders.

As for Pan Zhang, he wasn't in a hurry.

Currently, the infantry in the army camp are basically his troops, and he can't take charge of the cavalry even if he wanted to.

If it's about infantry, then who else but him?

"I have an idea."

Liu Feng took the initiative to call the generals to the map and asked, "Gentlemen, please look. It takes exactly one day to travel from Fenqiu to Yingyang. If we can ambush them halfway and use them as bait to lure the enemy out of Yingyang, and if we can annihilate them in open battle, the difficulty of attacking the city will obviously be greatly reduced."

Liu Feng's idea piqued the interest of the generals, who began to discuss it around the map. The road from Fenqiu to Yingyang was almost a straight line, requiring no detours, and was about forty-five li long.

He Luan only needed to urge the troops to speed up their pace, and they would definitely be able to reach Yingyang within a day.

However, He Luan had made several preparations. He prepared a large amount of dry food to save time in cooking. Cooking a meal was not easy these days; even just boiling millet would take at least an hour.

Meanwhile, at the fourth watch of the next day, he urged his troops to get up and prepare. Just as dawn broke, He Luan's troops had already set off from Fenqiu and headed towards Yingyang.

To increase the marching speed of the troops, He Luan carried almost no food or supplies, leaving the remaining two hundred shi of grain in Fenqiu.

The dry rations I carried were enough for three days. If we couldn't reach Yingyang in three days, any more rations would just be a burden.

Soon, as noon approached, the troops had traveled twenty li (approximately 10 kilometers) and were only halfway to Yingyang.

Meanwhile, after lunch, Yingyang opened its south gate wide, and a procession of five thousand people emerged, five in a row, heading south, clearly to meet He Luan.

All of this was thoroughly investigated by Liu Feng's cavalry.

Conversely, the Yellow Turban cavalry in Yingyang were severely suppressed, barely daring to leave the range of the infantry archers, and were able to obtain very little intelligence.

However, He Luan came from Yingyin to provide reinforcements. If they were to sit idly by and watch the enemy be defeated or even annihilated by the Xuzhou army, the morale of the Yingyang garrison would be severely damaged.

Therefore, Huang Shao decided to personally lead troops to meet He Luan.

Huang Shao led a full five thousand men out of the city, all of them elite troops. There were five hundred cavalrymen, eight hundred archers, and a thousand fully armored Yellow Turban warriors. It could be said that almost all of Yingyang City's most capable troops were here.

Huang Shao had timed it perfectly; they only needed to travel fifteen miles outside the city to meet He Luan.

Then the two sides met up, with their backs to the Ying River, and shield carts and crossbows provided cover, enough to support them to travel the remaining fifteen miles.

At first, the operation went quite smoothly.

Apart from the cavalry harassing them from outside the range of their crossbows, Huang Shao and He Luan encountered no other resistance.

In the afternoon, the two armies successfully met up 15 li south of Yingyang City.

The successful rendezvous greatly boosted the morale of the Yellow Turban army. Huang Shao's troops turned around, with the rear guard becoming the vanguard, and began their return to Yingyang.

At this time, the Yellow Turban army's front line was divided into three major groups.

The innermost line was the infantry marching line bordering the Ying River, where the Yellow Turban infantry, carrying weapons and supplies, were best protected and concealed.

In the middle were all the Yellow Turban cavalry, about eight hundred riders, ready to launch a counterattack against the enemy at any time.

The outermost layer consisted of a long line of wagons, with shields erected on them, and archers were positioned on top of the wagons to ensure that the Xuzhou army's light cavalry could not harass the advance of the troops.

In this way, the speed of the procession increased significantly.

Liu Feng couldn't help but praise, "I never expected that there would be such a knowledgeable and resourceful person among the Yellow Turbans."

Taishi Ci, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang all nodded in agreement with Liu Feng's view.

Pan Zhang was not here; he had a more important mission and had been assigned elsewhere.

After Huang Shao and He Luan reunited, they were quite nervous, worried that the Xuzhou army would take advantage of the chaos to launch an attack.

They breathed a sigh of relief only after both sides had made arrangements, changed direction, and resumed marching.

"It seems the Xuzhou army doesn't dare to come."

He Luan was well aware of the fighting strength of the Xuzhou army, but in order to boost morale, he still showed great contempt for them.

"They must have been terrified when they saw Huang Shuai come to meet us in person!"

Huang Shao knew that He Luan was not so arrogant; he was clearly trying to boost morale.

So he chimed in, "Commander He personally led the troops to rescue Yingyang. It was precisely because the reinforcements were as fierce as tigers that they were able to deter the Xuzhou army. The people of Yingyang are truly grateful for this."

After exchanging compliments, the morale of the troops was boosted. With Yingyang City fast approaching, everyone was in high spirits.

Unexpectedly, after traveling another five miles, an accident occurred.

"What?! There are government troops fortified ahead, blocking my way?!"

Huang Shao was in command of the central army when he suddenly noticed that the troops in front had stopped. Soon after, a messenger from the front returned to report the news.

It turned out that a Xuzhou army had appeared only six or seven miles away from Yingyang City, and had even built a simple camp using wooden rafts and carts.

If the Yellow Turban Army wanted to enter Yingyang, they either had to break through this makeshift camp and pass through it.

Alternatively, they would have to take a long detour, leaving the flank protection of the Ying River, bypassing this fortified position, and entering the city through the east gate of Yingyang.

The latter option is absolutely unacceptable. Going through such a long detour and losing the flank protection of Yingshui is tantamount to exposing one's own weakness to the enemy's sharp blade. What's the difference between this and suicide?
Huang Shao and He Luan went directly to the front line to observe the enemy situation and found that the enemy's fortifications were indeed quite simple.

This defensive line was centered around large wagons, with wooden rafts used only to cover the gaps between the wagons.

Huang Shao and He Luan couldn't tell how many Xuzhou soldiers were in the camp for the time being, but they made a rough guess and felt that the enemy would not be more than three thousand.

After discussing it, Huang Shao and He Luan decided to attack the fortified position, as they had no other choice.

At the same time, Huang Shao used smoke to notify the city, hoping that the city would send troops together to attack the Xuzhou army from two sides.

This force, like a nail driven into the gap between the Yellow Turban Army and Yingyang City, was naturally the three thousand troops personally led by Pan Zhang.

Liu Feng was quite bold this time, sending out almost his entire force. The camp was completely empty except for a few auxiliary soldiers.

After all, Liu Feng had more than 5,000 cavalrymen and completely controlled the battlefield.

Even if the main camp is left empty, Yingyang City and the main force of the Yellow Turban Army will still be unable to attack it.

Both sides realized the critical nature of the situation, especially the Yellow Turban Army, which immediately deployed its elite forces.

Two thousand Yellow Turban warriors, under the cover of four hundred archers, charged straight at the wagon formation.

Pan Zhang's side also deployed elite troops against elite troops, leaving no one behind and sending five hundred armored soldiers directly into battle.

Most of the Yellow Turban Army's bows and arrows were soft bows, which could not penetrate the armor of the Ironclad Warriors at all. Only a small number of strong bows and crossbows could pose a threat to the Ironclad Warriors.

However, Pan Zhang's troops also had archers who retaliated, ignoring the Yellow Turban warriors and suppressing the enemy's ranged archers, preventing them from easily closing the distance to aim at their targets.

The Yellow Turban Warriors were clad in full leather armor, some wielding one-handed weapons and small round shields, while others carried long spears.

The Yellow Turban warriors coordinated perfectly, with the archers behind them launching volleys to avoid friendly forces while simultaneously bypassing the chariot formation and inflicting damage on the Xuzhou army behind it. Meanwhile, the crossbowmen were tasked with suppressing the armored soldiers, maximizing the risk and difficulty for them to peek out.

The Yellow Turban warriors with long spears rushed to the front of the chariot formation, using their spears to block the enemy's chance to emerge.

Then, the short-armed Yellow Turban warriors actually formed a human wall against the chariot wall, and then helped their comrades climb over the chariot formation.

The first wave of Yellow Turban warriors who rushed in were almost all armed with small warhammers, a melee weapon specifically designed to counter armored opponents.

The iron armor of the Eastern Han Dynasty was quite weak against blunt force; if this hammer blow had landed squarely, it could have even broken a rib.

The armored soldiers of Xuzhou did not hesitate at all; they charged forward, and the two sides clashed fiercely in the wagon formation.

In just a moment, more than a dozen people collapsed, blood flowing from their mouths, noses, and under their nails.

But no one paid any attention to that; the two sides just continued fighting, their eyes fixed on each other.

Pan Zhang's chariot formation was subjected to fierce attacks, and the casualties among the armored soldiers gradually increased.

This was not only because the Yellow Turban warriors were fearless, but also because the heavy crossbowmen behind them disregarded their own lives and even the shots fired by their comrades.

(End of this chapter)