It is said that Zang Ba, Sun Guan, and Yin Li, with some of the defeated soldiers, ran wildly for a day and a night and returned to their hometown of Kaiyang.
Zhao Chen led the army into Tancheng, rested for a few days, and then set off again, heading towards Kaiyang.
As soon as the army passed Jiqiu, Zhao Chen told the generals leading the army: "From now on, we have entered the true sphere of influence of Zang Ba and others. You must be careful. There are many thieves in Taishan, and the combined power cannot be underestimated."
Zhang Fei and Chen Dao played for twelve points and advanced steadily.
But beyond Zhao Chen's expectation, the army moved smoothly along the way without encountering any resistance. Even Zang Ba's hometown Kaiyang was unguarded and the city gate was open.
When Zhao Chen arrived with his army, the people at the city gate acted as if nothing had happened and were minding their own business.
This made Zhao Chen and others very puzzled.
"The gate is open and the people outside the city are sweeping the floor?"
Zhao Chen looked at the city gate in confusion, which had the word "Kaiyang" written on it. At a glance, he could see that there were houses at the end of the street. There were only a few people on the street, and there were occasional people walking back and forth.
This scene seemed familiar to Zhao Chen.
"Is it Zhuge Liang's plan to empty the city? Or is there an ambush in the city?"
Zhao Chen couldn't see clearly for a while, so he had to stop and observe for a moment.
Looking at Zhao Chen who was stagnant, Zhang Fei asked: "Military advisor, those thieves must have been frightened by us. When they heard that we were coming to Kaiyang to kill them, they had already run away."
Zhao Chen shook his head: "No, Yide, there must be something fishy about this matter."
"What could be weird!" Zhang Fei took the lead and rushed into Kaiyang City with his snake spear.
Zhao Chen was shocked and hurriedly asked Chen Dao to lead dozens of soldiers to keep up with Zhang Fei to prevent any unexpected events.
Chen Dao and others entered the city with high vigilance. Looking around, they found that there was no ambush behind the city gate.
Zhang Fei had also galloped around the streets on horseback, and he didn't see a single shadow of Zang Ba's soldiers.
The surrounding sentries came to report, but no trace of Zang Ba and others was found.
Zhao Chen was puzzled and strolled into Kaiyang.
Zhang Fei asked softly: "Military advisor, are you too cautious?"
Zhao Chen did not answer. When marching and fighting, the commander holds the army in his hands, and every move is related to the life and death of the entire army. How can we not be cautious?
Today's matter was so abnormal that Zhao Chen had to doubt it.
The forces united by Zang Ba and others were known as the Taishan Group or Taishan Corps in history. How could a group that even Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were afraid of, just rely on Zhao Chen's two victories to defeat them so that they dare not show their presence, or even open their homes? Yangdu was given to Zhao Chen.
The thieves are all very violent people. After experiencing two defeats, they would normally return to their hometown to recruit soldiers and take revenge, but now they have returned to their hometown and become a coward. It is very strange.
Zhao Chen found the former Kaiyang County Captain to inquire about the situation.
If you don’t ask, you won’t know. If you ask, you will be shocked.
Donghai County and Langya Kingdom are mostly mountainous forests with relatively little cultivated land. In order to survive, the locals tied a belt on their arms, picked up the guy, and followed Zang Ba and others to occupy the mountains and become kings.
No other people came here, mainly because the forces of Zang Ba and others were already very powerful, and no one could defeat them, so they could only huddle in Kaiyang City.
Since yesterday, Zang Ba and others have led the soldiers to disperse and blend into the mountains and forests outside the city, waiting for the arrival of Zhao Chen and others.
Zhao Chen shook his head helplessly. If Zang Ba and others relied on the terrain to engage in "guerrilla warfare", it would be difficult to deal with them.
He asked the county lieutenant where Zang Ba was most likely to appear. The county lieutenant said: "Towards Linyi from Kaiyang, there is a forest to the west, backed by mountains. This is where Zang Ba often stationed troops and trained."
Zhao Chen looked at the map and had a plan in mind.
The next day, Zhao Chen left Chen Dao and Cheng Yu behind and led two thousand troops to guard Kaiyang. Together with Zhang Fei and Lu Xun, Zhao Chen led an army of three thousand towards the place mentioned by the county captain.
Sure enough, after walking less than twenty miles, the thief was seen.
The forest here is dense, with the mountain at its back, and the terrain under the mountain is narrow, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
If a log rolls down from the mountain and is attacked with fire, the thieves at the bottom of the mountain will have nowhere to escape.
Having made up his mind, Zhao Chen asked Zhang Fei to lead two thousand men and horses to the mountain quietly, prepare rolling logs and torches, and wait for Zhao Chen's signal.
Zhao Chen led a thousand men and advanced slowly, hoping to use himself to attract the thieves to attack.
But Zhao Chen searched the woods for half a day and found no one, not even the thief who showed up just now.
Helpless, Zhao Chen had no choice but to join forces with Zhang Fei and return to Kaiyang first before making plans.
Before leaving the woods, a group of troops suddenly appeared from the east. Zhao Chen took a closer look and saw who it was if it wasn't Zang Ba.
Zang Ba shouted: "Suffer death, Zhao Chen!"
Zhao Chen frowned and looked at Zang Ba in disbelief, unable to figure out why he appeared here.
Zhang Feice immediately stepped forward and raised his gun to fight back.
The two fought for more than ten rounds, but Zang Ba was no match for him. With a single shot from Huan Huan, he led his soldiers to kill him.
Zhang Fei protected Zhao Chen and Lu Xun as they retreated westward.
After walking less than two miles, another group of troops came out from the west. Zhao Chen took a closer look and saw that it was Sun Guan.
Sun Guan laughed and said: "Zhao Chen, you never thought, I'm waiting for you here!"
Then he led three thousand men and horses to fight Zhang Fei.
At this moment, with Sun Guan in the west and Zang Ba in the east, Zhao Chen was in trouble for the first time.
Zhang Fei did not dare to fight, so he could only repel Sun Guan and protect Zhao Chen as he fled south, detouring around Wushui and then back to Kaiyang.
After leaving the woods, Zhao Chen's army was able to escape the pursuit of Zang Ba and others through the barrier of Martial River.
This was also the first time that Zhao Chen fell into the trap. Unfortunately, he only brought Zhang Fei with him. If Chen Dao was with him, it would not be a problem to counterattack on the spot.
Zhao Chen's army returned to Kaiyang and counted the number of casualties, which was more than 500.
The officers and soldiers were also indignant in their hearts.
Facing Yuan Shu Ji Ling, Sun Ce Zhou Yu, Cao Cao and Guo Jia, they had never been afraid or flinched. Today, they fell into the hands of a few bandits. It was simply unbelievable.
At night, Zhao Chen sat alone in the county government office, constantly reviewing today's march.
However, no matter how much I reviewed, I couldn't find the problem.
Lu Xun looked at the confused gentleman and didn't know how to comfort him. He could only flip through the county annals on the table in the county government lobby.
Suddenly, Lu Xun said casually: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military officers, sir, don't worry about it."
Zhao Chen nodded and replied: "Of course I know that the so-called soldiers are unpredictable and the water is unpredictable. There is no reason why marching and fighting will be smooth sailing. However, I still haven't been able to find the reason for this defeat."
Lu Xun replied: "I'm afraid you're not the only one who has this concern."
Zhao Chen asked in confusion: "Why do you say that?"
Lu Xun brought the county journal to Zhao Chen, pointed to the lines of text and said, "Here are records of many military battles between county magistrates and bandits in recent years, all of which ended in failure."
Zhao Chen followed Lu Xun's fingers and read carefully. As expected, the further back he looked, the more he suffered defeats. He often missed or was attacked.
After thinking about it, he suddenly understood the reason for this failure.
