There is a saying that Fan Jiang and Zhang Da's outflanking of Lei Bo's rear army actually violated some taboos in military tactics, which led to the final fierce battle between the two sides becoming so bloody.
As the saying goes, "Don't contain the enemy when they return, and don't pursue the enemy when they are exhausted." When the enemy's army has shown signs of collapse and defeat, if you have to completely block the opponent's escape route, it will be easy to force the enemy to risk his life.
There should be a slight gap left so that the enemy can see the opportunity to escape through this gap.
Only in this way can it completely disintegrate its fighting spirit, and then use its flanks to output wildly and violently kill the enemy's effective forces.
Even if doing so will eventually cause the enemy to escape a little more, your own losses can be minimized.
Unfortunately, as the saying goes, war cannot tolerate assumptions.
Zhang Fei had no choice but to have too few talents under his command. He himself has to personally lead the task of deceiving and luring the enemy head-on, and he has no skills at all.
To set up an ambush around the back, we can only leave it to Fan Jiang and Zhang Da to improvise.
They were both inexperienced and eloquent. When they became red-blooded, they even forgot to order their soldiers to shout to shake the enemy and force him to surrender.
It’s not surprising that it ended up like this.
Fortunately, the terrain beside the Huaihe River helped Zhang Fei after all.
The Huaihe River Basin is located in a vast alluvial plain. The amount of sediment carried has been second only to the Yellow River since ancient times, so the geology along the river is very soft and muddy.
After all, Fan Jiang and Zhang Da's interception could not completely block the river, so there was always a glimmer of hope in the muddy ground closest to the river for Lei Bo's cavalry to escape.
After the initial fierce fight, as Zhang Fei chased closer and closer, the remnants of Yuan's army were huddled together and trampled on each other. Finally, some Yuan's cavalry came up with the idea of charging into the mudflats by the river in an attempt to bypass the encirclement.
Groups of war horses rushed onto the muddy ground, directly sinking their hooves, or stumbled and threw the cavalry away. Seeing that they could not charge forward on horseback, the soldiers who followed abandoned their horses and walked. Some even jumped into the Huaihe River and swam to escape.
What's more important is that Zhang Fei's battlefield control experience is much richer than that of Fan Jiang and Zhang Da. He knows how to make the whole army shout "Those who surrender will not be killed" to further destabilize the besieged enemies and make more and more people fall into the mud. When Yuan Bing found that he couldn't run away, he knelt down and surrendered.
Once this trend occurs, it is completely unstoppable.
In the end, only about 300 of Lei Bo's remnants escaped and a considerable number of them abandoned their horses.
The remaining 200 to 300 people were beheaded, wounded and fell by Zhang Feijun, and the last 500 to 600 people were completely desperate and directly chose to surrender.
With 200 cavalry and 600 steps, Zhang Fei defeated nearly 1,500 pure cavalry, annihilated the enemy and captured three-quarters of them, and also beheaded the enemy's general. The results were not without great success.
…
"Happy! Zifang! We can have such a great victory today. We must have a drink tonight! You Mi family are really loyal! Zizhong raised money and food for the eldest brother, and you are so determined and dare to fight! It's really rare !”
After Zhang Fei determined the victory and ensured that the surrendered troops put down their weapons, he immediately rode across the battlefield, eagerly searching for Mi Fang, the leader of the ambush.
After confirming that he was not injured, he breathed a sigh of relief and chatted and laughed with him.
The Mi family was the biggest contributor to Liu Bei's takeover of Xuzhou. Even if he knew that Mi Fang would not attack personally, but would only lead his troops to suppress the battle, Zhang Fei still had to care about his safety.
However, when Mi Fang saw Zhang Fei, she could not relax at all. Instead, she looked embarrassed.
Zhang Fei noticed the abnormality and quickly asked: "Is it possible that he suffered some hidden injury from the fierce battle just now? Is there any discomfort?"
Mi Fang forced a smile: "How dare I take the lead? It's just Fan Jiang and Zhang Da who you sent to guide me. I let them lead the front line and fight first.
Unexpectedly, Lei Bo's defeated army jumped over the wall and attacked with all his strength. In the bloody battle, Fan Jiang was killed on the spot, and Zhang Da also suffered many serious injuries - General, you won't blame me for breaking your heart, right? Go and have a look quickly. "
Upon hearing this, Zhang Fei's expression suddenly darkened, and he rushed to the side to find the seriously injured Zhang Da and checked the injury.
Zhang Da was not stabbed, but was hit head-on by a cavalry horse charging at full speed and sent flying. He suffered many broken tendons, fractures and internal organs, so he did not die on the spot, but Zhang Fei knew after a quick look. It's definitely hopeless. I just hugged Zhang Da and said a few words of comfort before he died, but in the end he still couldn't change.
Zhang Fei punched the ground angrily several times to vent his anger, but considering that Mi Fang didn't want to do this, he still held it back and did not have any further attacks. He even comforted him:
"Victory or defeat is unpredictable, life and death are determined by fate. We have long been prepared for such a bloody battle. When we go back, we will take good care of Fan Jiang and Zhang Da's mother-in-law and children."
The group of people turned their grief and anger into strength, worked hard to clean the battlefield, tied up all the disarmed prisoners, and escorted them back to Haixi City.
But perhaps misfortunes never come singly. While cleaning the battlefield, Zhang Fei discovered another detail that made him sad——
Shiren's body was found on the back of a horse used by Yuan Jun to tie up prisoners.
He was shocked: hadn't Shiren parted ways with them early in the morning and led the fleet to Huaipu? How could he die here?
Zhang Fei was so angry that he naturally tortured the Yuan Jun prisoners next to him and asked him about the situation.
Soon, a Yuan Jun garrison commander could not survive the sentence and identified the commander:
"General, stop fighting! I'll recruit you! This man was captured by Lieutenant Lei when he was chasing the fleet early in the morning. He tortured you and found out your itinerary. Knowing that you were escorting Mi Zhu and a large amount of property, Lieutenant Lei spared no effort to pursue him. The result was that he was killed. Ambush.
The Lei Junhou next to him is the brother of Lieutenant Lei. When he saw that his brother was killed by you, the general, he was extremely angry. He said that this prisoner was your dead end and deliberately seduced us into an ambush, so he cut him with a knife. Chop it up to vent your anger, it’s none of our business! "
Upon hearing this, Zhang Fei's eyes widened with anger, he roared loudly, drew his sword and struck at the military lord named Lei, chopped off his head and threw it next to Shiren's body.
"Brother Shi, you can be considered an old brother who has been with us for ten years. You should not have confessed your husband's whereabouts as soon as you were captured. In the end, you failed to escape with your life.
But I have killed your enemy, which can be regarded as revenge for you. Right and wrong have been wiped out. You can rest in peace and go on your way.
After I go back, I will tell my second brother that after you were captured, you would rather die than give in. You deliberately leaked false reports to the enemy and lured the enemy into our ambush circle, only to be killed by the enemy general in anger. This way your mother-in-law and children can still get some money and food as compensation. "
Zhang Fei sighed and finished speaking, feeling that he had done his best, so he threw the head to the ground, took a skin bag from the horse, and sprinkled some wine as a memorial.
Finally, I swallowed the unfinished wine in one gulp.
As for Fan Jiang and Zhang Da who died gloriously in battle, Zhang Fei will definitely transport their bodies back to the city and bury them properly.
They fought bravely and died, unlike Shiren, who could not survive the torture at the last moment but betrayed.
After handling all this, Zhang Feicai waved his hand and signaled the troops to return to the city.
"Alas, although this battle was won, it was also a tragic victory. My subordinates killed Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, and my second brother's subordinates killed Shiren. How will I explain it when I go back?"
Zhang Fei felt depressed all the way.
To win with less and kill more than one Lei Bo on the opposite side, and to wipe out more than a thousand enemy cavalry, in his mind was not worth the death of three years old troops.
…
After Zhuge Jin and Mi Zhu escaped safely back to the city, they were also quite anxious. Unfortunately, as purely civil servants, they were unable to go into battle and could only wait to ensure that the city was not lost.
When the commotion outside the city gradually subsided, it was already completely dark.
They were busy cleaning the battlefield and collecting prisoners for at least more than an hour.
Zhang Fei was not used to sending people to report that he was safe, and it was already halfway through Xu's hour when the army returned to the city.
Mi Zhu waited at the gate of the city with eyes wide open. After confirming that his second brother Mi Fang was fine, he complained: "In the future, for these fightings, we will send troops to lead the troops. We are the soldiers who know everything about it."
On the other side, Zhuge Jin put his hands behind his back and quietly observed Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei saw him looking up and down and quickly came over to report that he was safe:
"Don't worry, sir! I've been through a lot of dangerous fights, and I'll be fine. But my family, sir, were not disturbed when they entered the city just now."
Zhuge Jin nodded slightly: "The safe arrival in Haixi this time is all thanks to the cover of Yide."
However, Zhang Fei's expression darkened and he told the news of Fan Jiang and Zhang Da Shiren's death.
Zhuge Jin almost showed an expression he shouldn't have, but fortunately he had received professional training in emotion management and was able to control it in an instant.
Fan Jiang and Zhang Da Shiren are now considered "loyal and righteous people" and cannot be ridiculed.
The two chatted for a few more words, and Mi Zhu said on the side that everyone was exhausted and hungry after a day of fighting and running around, and they wanted to go back to the county government office to rest. The group happily followed.
In today's battle, Yuan Jun lost some horses, including those that were lame and could no longer be used, a total of nearly two hundred horses. Eight hundred horses were captured intact and ready for further military use.
In order to save grain and other storable food, the entire army lived on horse meat these days.
Each horse can kill about three hundred kilograms of meat, including the offal, which is enough to feed the Hercynian garrison for several months.
This place is located at the estuary of the Huaihe River, and later became part of Yancheng City. As you can tell from the place name, it is a super salt-producing area. Horse meat that cannot be eaten temporarily can be pickled and preserved.
The Lianghuai salt merchants who will be known as the world's richest people in the future will sell salt produced here.
However, the technology in the Han Dynasty was still relatively backward. They could only boil salt but not dry it, so energy consumption was relatively high and production efficiency was low.
…
After chatting for a while, Zhang Fei and Zhuge Jin returned to the county office and each ate a few pieces of boiled horse belly to relieve their hunger a little.
Zhang Fei asked about his next plan:
"Sir, will we still have a chance to help the eldest and second brothers share the burden of killing the enemy in the future? Are we just going to wait for them to decide the winner with Ji Ling and Liu Xun?"
Zhuge Jin consoled him: "It's a credit to us to defend Haixi. Not to mention that we have to raise military rations here. You just finished a fight and you forgot about the mission?"
Nowadays, Huaiyin can only eat the remaining food for twenty days at most. After the decisive battle and pursuit to Guangling County, there may be only ten days left. How can we talk about counterattack with this little food? If the remnants of Liu Xun's army can hold on until we run out of food, everything will be over. "
"How can I forget that I just had a fierce battle and my blood was rising."
Zhang Fei then turned around from the fight and scratched his beard awkwardly. Then he stopped pestering Zhuge Jin and went to laugh with Mi Zhu to please him.
"Zizhong! The follow-up is all up to you! I also know that you have already contributed a lot of money, but now I can only have the audacity to ask you to buy more military supplies..."
Zhang Fei also knew very well that matters related to logistics, money and food cannot be handled by resourceful people, and they have to rely on the lap of the rich.
Mi Zhu was very embarrassed and quickly stated:
"Money is nothing more than external possessions, so Zhu will do his best. I have already calculated that now Lu Bu and Yuan Shu are enemies and cannot buy food nearby.
The local area was devastated by Zhe Rong last year, and the wealthy households had all their savings plundered, leaving no food left. In the south, Sun Ce was at loggerheads with Xu Gong, and the remaining grain must have been requisitioned for military supplies.
Therefore, if I want to buy military rations within ten days and have to transport them, I can only use my family's seagoing ship to go north along the coast to Qingzhou to find Kong Beihai. "
Hearing this, Zhang Fei felt relieved: "As expected of Zizhong, it turns out that he has already made arrangements and even wants to get such a remote connection, so I'm relieved."
"That's natural. Our Mi family has been in business for 20 years. I don't dare to say anything else. Where can I buy food in the surrounding states? I am still familiar with it."
Mi Zhu touched his beard, feeling a little proud. After all, he was specializing in the art.
However, before he could finish feeling proud, Mi Fang beside him suddenly became a little startled.
He has been stationed in Haixi County recently and is also taking care of the defense of his hometown Qu County. He is much better informed than Zhang Fei, Mi Zhu and others who were in the siege of Huaiyin.
After hearing that her eldest brother said that she planned to ask Kong Rong to buy grain, Mi Fang suddenly realized that her eldest brother was unaware of something, and quickly reminded:
"Brother, I'm afraid it won't work to buy grain from Kong Beihai - during the stalemate between the lord and Yuan Jun, Beihai County was captured by Yuan Tan. Now Kong Rong is afraid that he has fled to Xuchang to seek an official position. Yuan Tan just talked to Kong Beihai After months of fighting, the local area must be short of food."
Zhang Fei and Mi Zhu were all shocked when they heard this. Zhang Fei was even more anxious and scratched his head and scratched his head: "What should we do? What should we do?"
