Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

The next day, Wang Yun bid farewell to the old patriarch and led his troops to Pingyu to quell the rebellion.

Just as they left the village, a cavalryman came to report that the Yellow Turbans had captured Gushi again the day before and were heading towards Yingyang.

Wang Yun was about to lead his troops to Yingyang to relieve the siege when another group of riders came over. Fifty thousand Yellow Turbans were gathering in Xinan City and were marching towards Pingyu with great momentum.

Yingyang is located in the northeast of Gepo and Pingyu is located in the northwest. A fast horse can travel between the two places in less than a day, but there is the Hong River in between, and it is not easy for cavalry to cross the river. If they go to one place, the other place is likely to be defeated by the enemy army.

"Is there any news from Meng De?" Wang Yun asked.

"Cao's cavalry just arrived in Yang'an yesterday, and no battle reports have been received yet."

Wang Yun hesitated. All the counties in the southern part of Runan County had been captured by the Yellow Turbans. Pingyu was the seat of Runan. If it was lost again, the remaining counties would probably not dare to resist, and Runan County would be completely occupied by the Yellow Turbans. Logically, he should go to relieve the predicament of Pingyu first.

But once Yingyang is lost, the two bandit armies will join together, with a total of 80,000 troops. No matter how powerful the elite troops he leads are, it will be difficult to resist. Both places are important. What should he do?

If the soldiers of the two counties and prefectures could hold off one or two, he would just rescue one and then go to the other. However, since Emperor Guangwu abolished the position of the Inner County Commandant, there have been no standing troops. This time, a temporary commandery was appointed in the event of war, and the soldiers recruited were only civilians who had served in the military before and had no combat experience. This is why officials from all over the country were terrified of the enemy.

After much deliberation, Wang Yun resolutely made a decision, "We will divide our forces to rescue them. Sima Che, you go to Yingyang, and I will personally lead two thousand men to stop the bandit army that is trying to reach Pingyu."

Divide the troops? Zhang Mo's face turned green when she heard Wang Yun make this decision.

There are only 3,000 people in total, and they still need to divide the troops? No matter how weak the Moth Bandits are in combat, they have 80,000 people. Even if they were 8,000 pigs, they would probably be able to kill 3,000 people.

"Foster father, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to divide our forces."

"What's wrong?" Wang Yun looked at her. "If you have any ideas, please tell me."

Zhang Mo didn't have any good ideas for the moment, but she knew that she was already weak and should not make herself weaker. Instead, she should concentrate her superior forces, avoid the strong and attack the weak, and fight quickly and decisively.

In fact, there is still a great chance of winning if three thousand people go against the thirty thousand people in Yingyang. It is better to deal with one side first and then rescue the other side than to fail to rescue both sides and possibly suffer heavy losses.

"Perhaps the Pingyu governor can hold the city for now. My daughter thinks we should concentrate our forces on Yingyang first."

Wang Yun shook his head. "No, if Pingyu is lost, even if we hold Yingyang, it will be of little use."

He smiled confidently, "Besides, the Royal Guards are elite. They easily killed over ten thousand bandits yesterday. I am confident that if I divide my forces, I can repel the bandits."

Hearing him say this, Zhang Mo felt even more uneasy. A proud army will surely be defeated, let alone a proud general. Moreover, it seemed that this Wang Situ was leading an army for the first time. If Zhang Babai said this, she would definitely believe that he had the ability to do so.

"Father..."

Zhang Mo was about to persuade him again, but Wang Yun interrupted her, "You don't need to say anything more. Your father will make the decision."

"Then godfather, please be careful!"

Alas! Maybe it is possible, now we can only hope that each of those soldiers can be worth a hundred, and the enemy general is a rookie.

Che Hu had already sent his soldiers to cut wood and build rafts in preparation for crossing the river. Wang Yun assembled his troops and set out in a mighty force.

The cavalry was fast and caught up with the 50,000-strong bandit group in less than two hours.

The moth bandits were not afraid of the officers and soldiers who suddenly appeared behind them. On the contrary, their eyes lit up when they looked at the tall horses.

A young man who looked like a commander, riding on a relatively shiny brown warhorse, looked at the approaching troops with a smile and said with a hint of sarcasm, "The officers and soldiers are here to bring us mounts and weapons."

His voice suddenly rose, "Young men, if you want a mount, go grab one yourself."

"Ho, ho, ho—"

The moth thieves cheered in joy.

The man waved his hand, and the thieves immediately fell silent. He gave a few instructions to the messenger beside him, and immediately someone rode his horse to deliver the message to the team.

Soon, several command flags were waved, and the moth thieves also began to move.

At this moment, Wang Yun's troops had already rushed over. The aggressive cavalry did not even pause and charged straight at them, causing the young man to laugh again, "This officer must be a fool. He dares to charge at us so brazenly with such a small number of people. He is really here to deliver us a gift."

The enemy is numerous and we are few. In this situation, the best strategy is for the cavalry to roam around the periphery of the enemy formation, retreat after a slight contact, and wait for the enemy to set out again before harassing and killing them from behind, nibbling away at them bit by bit.

"Captain Cavalry, go around to the rear of the officers and soldiers and block their way. Today, the general wants to keep all two thousand cavalrymen." The man ordered.

The Yellow Turbans' only 800 cavalrymen received the order and immediately drove their horses to the rear.

After the officers and soldiers rushed into the enemy camp, the effect was the same as yesterday. They quickly killed a group of moth bandits. The battlefield was filled with blood mist and screams.

On the hillside not far away, Wang Yun watched the battle unfold before him. Sima Lin, who had just advised him not to charge, said, "Look, a direct charge is more powerful."

Lin Sima's face was filled with worry. "If the enemy general is cowardly, then we can easily scatter the enemy troops. But if he's not afraid of death, he'll surely surround and strangle them. Besides, we've been running for half a day. We should let the soldiers recuperate before fighting again."

Wang Yun disagreed, "I think a quick victory is the best strategy. Restoring the horses will only give the bandits time to prepare. Look, they were attacked before they could even set up their formation. The bandits are in such a state of panic."

"Just wait and see!"

Lin Sima responded and turned his attention to the battlefield. After about a quarter of an hour, his face suddenly changed and he shouted, "Order a retreat immediately, the enemy army is surrounding us."

Wang Yun also saw that hundreds of enemy cavalry had circled to the rear, and his own troops had been divided into several groups without his knowledge. The enemy thieves were holding sticks and stones, and kept hitting the knights.

The moth thieves are poorly equipped, and many of them don't even have a knife, but they are numerous. Imagine what it would be like if a group of children surrounded a strong man and threw stones at him, and you will know what the royal elite are facing at this moment.

Wang Yun hurriedly ordered the horn to sound, but it was easier to get in than to get out. After a fierce fight, only about half of the cavalry broke free from the encirclement.

It was dusk when they returned to the river. Che Hu and others had just crossed the river when they saw Wang Yun coming back. Che Hu jumped onto the raft and turned back.

Looking at the current situation, he knew without asking that this trip had failed.

There were 2,000 people when they left, but only over 1,000 were left when they came back. How can we divide the troops with such a small number of people?

"What should we do now?" Che Hu asked, "Should we go to Pingyu or Yingyang?"

Wang Yun opened his bloodshot eyes and said in a deep voice, "Tell them to come back and destroy the bandit army first."

"How many people are there on the other side?"

Wang Yun said, "About 40,000."

Che Hu was stunned. He had lost nearly a thousand elite soldiers, but only killed a few thousand bandits? How did he do that?

After listening to Sima Lin's description of today's battle, Zhang Mo's heart sank to the bottom in an instant. This Yellow Turban general could make his soldiers obey his orders. At least in terms of military management, he was much better than Bo Cai. I'm afraid he would be difficult to deal with.

You should pick the softest persimmon to squeeze. Although I don't know the combat capabilities of the moth bandits' generals in Yingyang, judging from the military strength alone, Yingyang is obviously easier to defeat.

"Father, we can't go to Pingyu. Our army was just defeated by that bandit army, and our morale is low. If we run into them again, I'm afraid we won't gain any advantage."

"Young Master, what you said makes sense. I think it's better to go and relieve the danger in Yingyang first." Che Hu agreed.

Wang Yun sighed softly, "What good will it do to go to Yingyang? If Pingyu is lost, Yingyang will be lost too."

Sima Lin said, "The enemy forces in Yingyang are small. We should at least capture them first and defend here. Only then will we have a chance later. If we hesitate any longer, we will lose both places and have no choice but to retreat."

Wang Yun hesitated and said, "Then we should go to Yingyang first. However, there are also 30,000 bandits there, and we may not be sure of victory."

After the blow he suffered in the morning, Wang Yun was no longer so confident and arrogant. He had to admit that not all the thieves were good-for-nothings.

This concern is not without reason. Going to Yingyang has a greater chance of success, but there may also be accidents.

Zhang Mo thought for a moment and said, "Foster father, since the enemy wants to break into the city, why not just let them break in? We can set an ambush in Yingyang and wipe them out in one fell swoop."

"Set an ambush in the city? How do we do it?"

Zhang Mo said: "Burn Yingyang!"

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang burned Xinye and defeated Cao Ren. Although this is fictional, it can be used as a reference. When the enemy is numerous and we are few, it is reasonable to use fire as an attack.

Wang Yun immediately shook his head. "That's inappropriate. There are thousands of people in Yingyang. If we burn them all down, what will they do in the future?"

Some time ago, Huangfu Song was besieged in Changsha, and finally turned defeat into victory by burning the camp. However, that was burned on the enemy. Now, how could Wang Yun bear to burn down a county town?

"If my foster father doesn't give up this small city, all of us might be finished. Besides, the government will have to help resettle the people of Yingyang afterwards."

As far as she knew, ancient cities were very small. Kaifeng, Henan, was the provincial capital of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. It only took twenty minutes to get from the Song Gate in the east to the Daliang Gate in the west. Small county towns were even smaller, with an area of ​​only about 20,000 to 30,000 square kilometers and a population of only a few thousand. It was not difficult to resettle such a small number of people after the war.

Wang Yun was still hesitating when Du Fei said, "Sir, if we go down to Yingyang, there are only two gates, north and south, with a long street running straight through the middle. Perhaps we could have them block the side streets and alleys, demolish the houses in the back row, and only burn the left and right sides."

This was almost the same. Wang Yun, in a state of shock, shouted, "Che Hu, lead a few dozen cavalrymen and go ahead. Tell Wu Zhi, the magistrate of Yingyang County, to quickly gather the people to demolish houses and block the streets to create a firebreak. Once arrangements are made inside the city, you must hold the city gates."

Fortunately, the raft had been built earlier, and Wang Yun led the remaining troops across the river at night. By the next morning, they had all crossed the Hong River.

At noon, the scouts of the Chehu who had gone ahead sent back to report that the enemy army was only thirty miles away from Yingyang.