Zhang Fei's courage is commendable, but his military disadvantage is still very obvious.
Lei Bo had a thousand or hundreds of riders, while Zhang Fei had less than two hundred.
Even though there were still more than a thousand Xuzhou troops in Haixi County, they responded as requested. But Mi Fang couldn't pull out the whole army, and had to leave a part to defend the city.
If you pull out half at most, there will be only six to seven hundred people, and they are all infantry.
Two hundred cavalry and 600 infantry who were ambushed in advance were at a huge disadvantage against more than a thousand pure cavalry.
However, although the numerical disadvantage is huge, there is still a need to give it a try——
The timing of Lei Bo's appearance was too unfortunate. If he chased him all the way to the city, would the defenders at the top of the city still dare to open the door and let Zhang Fei in? Aren't you afraid of taking advantage of the chaos to seize the door?
Moreover, if Mi Fang has sent people to respond as promised, most of his troops are infantry, and it is impossible to regret before the battle.
Because they run much slower than the cavalry, if they get entangled, it's all over.
There are some things where there is no turning back. Even if you find that the enemy is larger than expected, you can only bite the bullet and fight to the end.
When things have reached this point, Zhuge Jin has done everything he can do, and the only way to follow is to see the performance of Zhang Fei and others.
He and Mi Zhu would only create more chaos if they stayed here, so they brought a few cavalry guards to protect their families and speed up, leaving Zhang Fei behind.
After rushing all the way to the city gate, Mi Zhu hurriedly revealed his identity. The Haixi guards all knew him. In addition, the rear army was indeed at least five miles away from the city wall, so the guard immediately opened the door and released the dozens of people. Come in.
Zhuge Jin vaguely heard loud shouts of killing in the distance behind him, and it seemed that Zhang Fei, Mi Fang and Lei Bo had already reached a point where they were fighting.
…
At the same time, a few miles west of Haixi City, there was a riverside fruit forest.
Yuan Shu's cavalry of more than a thousand people, with bright armor and bright weapons, looked very majestic as they galloped.
Under the banner of the former army with the word "Thunder", there is a general with a fleshy face and rough skin. He is riding on a tall horse, wearing iron armor and holding a saber in his hand. It is Lei Bo.
He had been running wildly all day in order to pursue Zhuge Jin and his party. At this moment, he was quite exhausted, but his spirit was still high - because he knew that as long as he caught up with the enemy in front, he could make a big fortune, property and military exploits. countless!
There was a horse next to Lei Bo, and there was a prisoner tied to the horse's back, who was Shiren.
It turned out that after the two teams parted ways in the morning, only an hour and a half later, Shiren's fleet was discovered by Lei Bo, who was running along the Huaihe River in search.
Most of the sailors under Shiren chose to abandon the ship immediately and jump into the water to escape, or desperately moved the ship to the reeds on the north bank and then landed on the shore to escape.
However, because Shiren was always afraid of death, he did not listen to his subordinates' advice when driving the boat. He always wore armor and had to remove it before diving.
During this delay, Lei Bo's army shot with bows and arrows on the south bank, injuring his limbs, falling to the ground, and was eventually captured.
After Lei Bo succeeded, he searched the abandoned ships and found that there was no gold or silver. He was furious and tortured Shiren.
Shiren is not a tough guy at all. Coupled with today's arrangements, he became even more resentful towards Zhuge Jin.
After Lei Bo tortured him for a few times, he confessed Zhuge Jin's escape route and that there was a wealthy man named Mi Zhu in the team.
Lei Bo was naturally overjoyed when he heard that the prey was so fat.
Especially when he found out from Shiren that Zhang Fei's troops were less than 200 men, he immediately felt that he could do it.
He had more than a thousand horsemen, killed 200 guards, won military honors, captured a wealthy man like Mi Zhu, obtained his accompanying belongings, and maybe even extorted a large ransom...
If you don't risk your life for this kind of thing, what else is worth risking your life for?
So Lei Bo spared no effort in chasing, and did not give the soldiers any lunch or rest along the way.
They set off more than half an hour later than Zhang Fei, and they wasted some time chasing a side road.
Lei Bojun's total travel distance was at least thirty miles farther than Zhang Fei's.
Time is shorter and there is more to do. Is there any other choice besides running like hell?
Lei Bo's army pursued Zhang Fei from Chenshi to Shenshi. All the soldiers were hungry, and some of the horses were almost foaming at the foam. They finally caught up with Zhang Fei in the west of Haixi County.
As for why Zhang Fei slowed down in advance and deliberately let him catch up, Lei Bo, who was so out of his wits, didn't even notice.
He only has prey in his eyes:
"Brothers! Bite your teeth again! Have you seen the bunch of guys in front of you? They are all carrying valuables shipped by Liu Bei's fleet, and there are Xuzhou rich men like Mi Zhu who can be captured! Rush! Who can grab it? Whoever it belongs to!"
"Kill!" Countless Yuan Jun's cavalrymen, who were stunned by their power, were so excited by Lei Bo's promise that they launched a final mad charge regardless of their physical exhaustion.
…
Seeing Lei Bo charging,
Zhang Fei, who had already started to slow down his horse and restore its power several miles in advance, was of course eager to turn back and fight back immediately.
However, he was still calm, and he remembered the two final sentences that Zhuge Jin had hurriedly said before leaving him:
When Lei Bo is approaching, he can pretend that "he is carrying too much weight and cannot escape in time, so he has to temporarily abandon his belongings" to further strengthen Lei Bo's determination to underestimate the enemy.
Anyway, Mi Zhu brought a lot of belongings with him this time, so he could choose some relatively worthless ones to scatter.
To put it bluntly, this move has little value. Isn't it just throwing money in front of the battle to confuse the enemy? In history, Wen Chou was also killed in this way by Cao Cao.
Zhuge Jin saw a lot of them, so he borrowed them casually and added a layer of insurance.
Zhang Fei, who had just gotten into a big disaster, was still very obedient and strictly carried out this order.
So the road along the river next to the Huainan fruit trees in the west of Haixi City was scattered with copper coins and silk satin.
Lei Bo's troops were already sprinting. Seeing Zhang Fei suddenly speeding up and running away, throwing away his belongings, their inner pride was strengthened.
Countless cavalrymen slowed down, trying to pick up valuable things. More than a thousand cavalrymen suddenly became chaotic.
Lei Bo realized that something was wrong, and tried his best to restrain the troops. He also drew his sword and killed two particularly shameful subordinates, but he could not restrain the military discipline in his haste.
Just when an ominous feeling arose in his heart, Zhang Fei on the opposite side finally stopped and suddenly turned back to fight.
Two hundred cavalry shouted in unison, formed a tight formation, and charged in a sharp wedge formation along the narrow battlefield of Nanlin and Beihe.
The wedge-shaped sharp cone head is none other than Zhang Fei himself.
"Don't take property privately! Hurry and meet the enemy!" Lei Bo was so anxious that he tried his best to restrain the soldiers, but unfortunately it was too late.
Lei Bo saw a fierce general with a beard and a black face charging towards him, so he had no choice but to fight it in person, and urged his own soldiers to besiege him.
"I'm looking for death! Huoshan Lei Bo is here!" Lei Bo roared, straightened up his saber and swung it at Zhang Fei.
When the two horses crossed each other, two powerful and heavy weapons clashed with each other, making a loud clang.
Lei Boman is able to rely on his momentum to slash down and cut off the opponent's weapon, or at least cut off the opponent's fingers.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Fei was faster than him. When the weapons were about to meet, he suddenly vibrated the spear shaft and hit the side of the sword. In an instant, a huge force blew Lei Bo's weapon away.
Lei Bo felt a sharp pain in the tiger's mouth, his arms were sore and numb, he could hardly hold the weapon, and suddenly the door opened wide.
While he was in a trance, Zhang Fei's snake spear had already swung back, heading straight for Lei Bo's face.
"Wouldn't his hands be numb if we sprint like this?!" Lei Bo felt confused and couldn't understand, and tried his best to block back.
But the sore and numb arm refused to obey, and in the end it only deflected Zhang Fei's weapon slightly, and was still stabbed into the shoulder socket by a spear, and one of his right arms was immediately cut off at the shoulder.
While Lei Bo howled miserably, Zhang Fei quickly drew out his snake spear and added another move, finishing him completely.
Lei Bo, who was ranked first in bravery among Liu Xun's army, was killed on the spot by Zhang Fei's three consecutive attacks.
This was not Lei Bocai, but he had been running for a whole day on an empty stomach, and his physical strength was estimated to be only 30 to 40% of its peak state.
Although Zhang Fei's physical strength has also declined, after all, he had taken a lunch break and had lunch, so he can at least have 70% of his peak strength.
Killing the enemy with three moves may seem fierce, but it is actually reasonable.
"Captain Lei!" All the Yuan Jun soldiers nearby exclaimed, their morale greatly reduced.
"Zhang Fei from Yan is here. If you are tired of living, hurry up and die under this spear!"
Zhang Fei shouted loudly, but his men were not slow at all. They swept the snake spears from left to right and swept several of the Leibo guards off their horses.
There was a horrific wound on each of the deceased's chests, which was long, twisted, and torn. The death state was horrifying.
The Yuan Jun cavalry next to them finally couldn't withstand the continuous psychological impact. As soon as this breath was released, the sequelae of the horse racing and chasing for a whole day completely exploded.
Countless timid soldiers suddenly felt their hands and feet weak, unable to resist in the face of tiger and wolf enemies.
In addition, there were some people in the back row who didn't react at all and were still robbing property.
This chaos dealt a fatal blow to the fighting spirit of Yuan Jun's cavalry who were pushed in the front row.
When Zhang Fei stabbed to death more than ten Yuan Jun cavalry with his own hands like a crazy tiger, the enemy next to him finally broke into waves and retreated in a panic.
The one hundred and eighty cavalrymen under Zhang Fei's command had high morale and followed him to fight to the death.
Although their physical strength was extremely exhausted, everyone felt a sudden surge of potential in their bodies when they saw Zhang Fei beheading generals in the battle, and their fighting spirit was high.
"Kill!"
Yuan Jun's formation was completely broken up by Zhang Fei's troops, and their retreat quickly turned into a rout.
However, the number of Yuan's troops was six or seven times that of Zhang Fei's troops, and both sides were cavalry.
Zhang Fei, relying on his own strength, can only fight a defeat at most, but it is impossible to fight a battle of annihilation.
Yuan Jun's cavalry scattered in all directions, and Zhang Fei could only pursue a small part of them.
Fortunately, Zhang Fei does not need to rely solely on his own strength to complete the battle.
Before the fight started and when he lured the enemy to pass by the fruit forest, he had simply confirmed that Fan Jiang and Zhang Da had already deployed the ambush troops under Mi Fang.
So at this moment, when Yuan's army was on the verge of disintegration, Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, who were ambushing in the fruit trees on the south side of the road, immediately rushed out with three hundred infantry each to block Yuan's army's retreat, and at the same time reap the rewards and beat up the drowned dog.
Each unit consisted of two hundred spearmen, a hundred bows and swordsmen, and a few were equipped with bucklers.
The spearmen quickly rushed north and attacked the south bank of the Huaihe River, trying to completely cut off Yuan's army's retreat, and then blocked it on the road. The saber archers fired arrows in response, weakening the enemy in front of them from a distance and slowing down Yuan's army.
These ambush soldiers were like sharp knives, piercing the waist and tail of the defeated Yuan army.
Except for a few Yuan's rear cavalry who ran fast when the situation was bad, most of the central and front troops were intercepted.
The surrounded Yuan Jun cavalry suddenly became frightened, and finally went crazy, trying to break out of the encirclement by jumping over the wall, and the two sides started a bloody fight.
