The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 72 Five Men Showdown
Zhang Liao assembled his troops, wearing a red tasseled crown, fish-scale armor, holding a long sword, and carrying two short halberds: "My men! Let's go!"

"Here!"

Liu Xie kept his promise. After Niu Fu got the result of the divination made by the emperor, he no longer had any scruples about the battle and handed over all the 300 war horses to Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao led three hundred cavalrymen, leading the way out of the East Gate and leaving from Baqiao.

Although the 300 cavalrymen were not many in number, their running sounded like thunder, and the people of Chang'an thought it was a bolt from the blue. They all lowered their heads and walked quickly, not daring to look up at the mighty power of heaven.

"Just now the old soldier said that Xu Huang's troops are roughly in Weinan... If they are walking, they are probably not far from Chang'an by now."

Zhang Liao gave another order: "Send the scouts to explore the way! If you encounter a large group of soldiers, don't worry about their flags, just report to me directly!"

"Here!"

The scouts traveled lightly and quickly headed east, separating from the main force.

An hour later.

A rotating scout passed by the front knights and came to Zhang Liao: "Captain! There are about 2,000 troops ten miles ahead!"

"Are there any cavalry?"

"About dozens of riders!"

"How about the formation?"

"The ranks are neat and orderly, without any disorder."

"Can you bring weapons such as Han crossbows?"

“Never seen it!”

……

Under the iron helmet, Zhang Liao already understood the strength of his opponent.

The troops are well-organized, proving that the enemy general is a good general who can control his soldiers.

But due to the enemy's hidden state, they did not have large-scale cavalry, nor did they have the dreaded Han crossbow!
Although such enemies are tricky, they are not a big problem!

Zhang Liao pulled the reins of his horse and looked towards the dense forest not far away. He already had a plan in his mind!

……

Opposite Zhang Liao was Xu Huang, who had caused unrest in the entire Guanzhong area.

Xu Huang, a typical Hedong man, had a strong build, thick eyebrows and big eyes. He only wrapped his head with a cloth scarf, and it was obvious that he still retained the habits of the Yellow Turban bandits.

"Qu Shuai..."

A non-commissioned officer next to Xu Huang just opened his mouth and immediately slapped himself in the face.

"Sorry, General! I called you the wrong name again! I know your rules!"

The sergeant drew a dagger from his waist and chopped off the fingers of his left hand.

"hiss!!!"

The knife was raised and the finger fell, and the sergeant's left little finger fell to the ground in an instant, and blood gushed out instantly.

Seeing this, the surrounding bandits rushed forward and helped the sergeant bandage his wound.

The sergeant grinned bitterly, "I'm used to it on weekdays, but it's different today, General! Isn't our flag too ostentatious?"

Behind him were two strong men holding the big banner and the general's flag.

One of them held up a large banner with the word "Han" on it, and the other held up a general flag with the word "Dong" on it... Standing in front of these two flags, I really felt itchy all over!

If any passers-by saw them, they would immediately become terrified and would want to stab them a few times to prevent them from leaking the news.

"General, you are amazing! Not only do you not take those people seriously, but you are also so calm..."

The sergeant sighed and gasped in pain.

"What's the saying in the book? Even if a mountain falls in front of him, he can still remain calm! Oh my God! If the mountain really falls, how scary would it be? I have never believed that such a person really exists, and I just thought it was a story made up by a group of scholars. Now it seems that the general is the kind of person described in the book!"

Xu Huang remained silent from beginning to end. He was not moved by the praises from others, as if the sergeant's chatter was just about other people's business.

Such calmness once again made people around him admire him.

Going deep into the enemy's belly and hiding for several months... Not to mention that enemies like Zhong Yao didn't believe it, even these soldiers themselves almost had a mental breakdown and were in a state of panic all day long.

Only Xu Huang was able to eat and sleep as usual, just like he was at home.

It was precisely Xu Huang's calmness, coupled with his strict military discipline, that infected the soldiers around him and allowed them to persevere until now.

But suddenly.

Xu Huang, who was believed by the soldiers to remain calm even if a mountain collapsed, actually frowned and the word "Chuan" (chuan) formed on his forehead.

At the end of the sight, a black line suddenly appeared!
The ground also began to tremble at this moment. Many of the bandits did not move, but they were already dizzy.

"The mountain, the mountain collapsed? Or the sky collapsed? Oh my God!"

The bandits were in a commotion, and the originally quiet army suddenly became noisy, with all kinds of doubts filling Xu Huang's ears.

Xu Huang narrowed his eyes slightly.

It's not the mountain falling, nor the sky collapsing.

But the cavalry!

"Form a circle! Resist the enemy!"

Xu Huang was very frugal with words, but the cavalry commander under his command was able to clearly convey Xu Huang's orders to all 2,000 troops on the battlefield.

"Qu handsome!"

In panic, someone called Xu Huang's name wrong again.

"We have been discovered by the enemy???"

"Ah."

Xu Huang was sure that he had been exposed.

When the cavalry from the opposite side rushed over, they didn't slow down at all!
If the reason for charging like this is not to fight the enemy, what else could it be?
Therefore, Xu Huang did not have any luck at all. He directly ordered his soldiers to form a circular formation which was most suitable for dealing with cavalry and decided to meet the enemy.

"General Qu! There are a lot of cavalry on the opposite side!"

Another shout finally made Xu Huang lose his composure.

Guanzhong... How could there still be a large number of cavalry?

"It's true! Commander Qu, look!"

I saw the opposing cavalry, in teams of ten, emerging continuously from the dense forest at the horizon.

In just a moment, more than two hundred riders suddenly appeared!

However, in the dense forest, there was still constant smoke and dust, and there was a lot of noise. It was obvious that there was a large enemy force hiding in there!
"General Qu, judging from the situation, there are at least a thousand cavalrymen on the other side!"

In a battle on the plains, cavalry naturally restrains infantry!
Even if there are only one thousand cavalry, it is enough to easily wipe out these two thousand infantry!
On the other side, Zhang Liao, who was riding on horseback, saw the chaos in the enemy's formation, and he squeezed his horse's belly desperately to make the horse run faster!

In fact, there were only a dozen riders left in the dense forest behind. They had branches tied to the tails of their horses and were constantly sweeping and raising dust.

The more than 200 cavalrymen rushing out now are all of Zhang Liao’s military strength!
Three hundred cavalrymen versus two thousand infantrymen!

With such a huge disparity in combat power, if both sides were well prepared, even if the infantry did not have weapons like the Han crossbow, they would be able to resist Zhang Liao's cavalry just by forming a battle formation.

So, Zhang Liao wants to take a chance!
An opportunity to make the other party panic!
The army is established by deception, moves based on advantage, and changes based on division and harmony.

故！
It should be as swift as the wind, as aggressive as fire, as powerful as thunder, and kill with one blow!
Zhang Liao locked his sights directly on Xu Huang, who was under the enemy's general. He held up his broadsword, wanting to take the enemy's head amidst thousands of troops!

At this moment, Xu Huang had a bow and arrow in his hand and aimed at the red tassel on Zhang Liao's crown.

"Go!"

(End of this chapter)