After An Ci's visit, Liu Bei had a deeper understanding of Yuan Jun. This battle was not only a decisive victory with swords and guns on the battlefield, but also a moral victory in the hearts of the people. Although no war has broken out yet, the battle between the two armies has already begun.
Fortunately, before Liu Bei went south, he had ordered all his soldiers not to intrude on people's houses and fields, and their daily rest and life were confined to the camp. Compared with the military discipline of Anci and Yuan's army, the Han army may be even more victorious. In addition, he was born in the Yan people and had the name of the Han Dynasty, so he would not be disgusted by the people of Youzhou. The only weakness is that he has been away from Youzhou for too long, and Yuan Shao has been winning people's hearts in Youyan and publicizing for a long time, so it is difficult for him to gain the upper hand in a short period of time.
Therefore, Liu Bei still did not move troops, but sent advance envoys to various states and counties, trying to get the magistrates of various counties to report their duties in Jixian in the name of the imperial court. There is no time limit set, and Bafu will not care when each official comes voluntarily.
After the news was released, the magistrates of the four counties of Zhuoxian, Jundu, Guangyang, and Changping immediately came to meet Liu Bei and asked him to send troops as soon as possible to repel Yuan Jun and Wuhuan. Liu Bei comforted them and said: "This matter cannot be rushed, but don't panic. Just do whatever you need to do. The summer harvest is coming next month, and the autumn harvest cannot be delayed. If Yuan Jun makes any move, the shogunate will naturally come forward." These people were doubtful, but Still agreed.
Then the commanders of Lu County, Wu Zhong, Gu'an, and Xu Wu came one after another. Although these people had an appointment with Yuan Jun, they did not dare to offend the court, so they still responded to the imperial edict and came to meet him. Liu Bei was very happy to see that four more counties had arrived. He got to know each other and said: "The country is in difficulty now. It is rare for you to not abandon the seal and hold on to the border. I only hope that if you stick to the time a little longer, the country will be peaceful." I have my own promotion." Then he held a banquet for them to eat and drink, and these people all left with great gratitude.
There were also some commanders who did not come in person, and sent county chiefs or meritorious officers to come to deliver the report. Liu Bei did not embarrass himself, but just encouraged these people: "Loyal ministers are rare. As long as your heart is with the court, your majesty will not do anything." I will be treated badly." Then he arranged for Xu Shu to talk to them one by one in secret, and persuaded many people to act as secret agents.
After this arrangement, Liu Bei felt much more at ease. After all, when magistrates from various counties came to Jixian to report on their duties, it meant that the imperial court still had influence in Youzhou. If Yuan Jun did not take action at this time, it would be a sign of weakness in the eyes of the counties that they did not dare to fight. If the Yuan army is forced to attack and loses its geographical advantage, he can also attack later and find loopholes. Regardless of success or failure, at least at this moment, the Han army can advance or retreat, and he has grasped the opportunity.
Sure enough, on July 12th. An urgent report came from Zhuo County, saying that suddenly Yuan's army came from the northeast and laid siege to the city. The soldiers set up an arrow tower in front of the city and built a large well gate to charge the chariot. He also sent an arrow message to the city, ordering them to attack the city immediately. Otherwise, after the city is broken, the resisters will be killed. The magistrate of Zhuo County was deeply frightened and came to send a letter asking for help overnight.
Liu Bei received the letter and ordered General Tai Shici to lead 6,000 troops to support Zhuoxian County. He himself had other plans. He believed that Yuan Jun, who was threatened from behind, could not concentrate his forces to attack the city and would inevitably turn his forces to fight. At this time, as long as Taishi Ci persists in avoiding the battle, he can delay the use of force, and he can go south to capture Anci.
He instructed Tai Shici: "Ziyi, you are usually too strong, but this time you are outnumbered, so don't fight hard. If anything unusual happens, report to me immediately!"
But he miscalculated this move. The day after he sent Taishi Ci to fight, Liu Bei was still patrolling the camp in the southern suburbs of Ji County. He planned to send troops to Anci at night. However, when the sun was just above his head, a battle report suddenly came, saying that Taishi Ci's troops had crossed the river before heading south. After traveling for more than forty miles, they were ambushed by the enemy in a dense forest. They were probably defeated now.
Liu Bei was shocked. This was his first defeat in the war since joining Yan, and he was filled with anger and shame. He didn't want to wait any longer, so he put on his armor without having lunch, dictated the military deployment to Xu Shu, yelled "Send troops immediately, I'll go first!" Then he took Fazheng and three hundred horsemen and ran south. ?The north shore of the water.
On the way, he met several envoys sent by his own side. Based on their reports, he concluded as follows:
After Yuan Jun surrounded Zhuoxian, he did not attack immediately. Instead, he surrounded Zhuoxian with most of his troops and cut off the news. He also used a few elite cavalry to rush seventy miles north to the hills on the south bank of the river. There were no mountains on the hills. lush. There were mostly shrubs and weeds, so they hid on the sides of the hills. Taishi Ci did not expect that there could be an ambush here, so Yuan Jun suddenly attacked from behind. Unprepared, Taishi Ci still organized a counterattack, but in the end he could not win. They could only leave nearly a thousand corpses and go north, and nearly two thousand people were injured. They could no longer fight in a short time. Yuan Jun was not willing to fight. After a small victory, he immediately withdrew southward. Zhuoxian County also immediately relieved the siege. They loudly publicized the incident at various forts along the way, claiming that they would still set up ambushes along the way.
Taishi Ci's troops were all the elites of Bafu. After Liu Bei learned the specific losses, he couldn't help but grit his teeth and secretly resented it. His whole body felt hot, but at the same time he had to admire the military strategy of General Yuan Jun. The location chosen by this ambush was so clever that it was neither too conspicuous nor had nowhere to hide, and the timing of the attack was also extremely accurate, so that it could have such an unexpected effect. Regardless of who came up with the idea, the strategy is impressive.
Moreover, he also guessed that Liu Bei might be angry and send troops. Instead of confronting Liu Bei, who was bent on fighting, he retreated more quickly to the rear of his camp. Because the enemy will calculate that even if they win this battle, they will suffer heavy losses, so it is better to avoid it for the time being.
On the other hand, the Han army, Taishi Ci's troops were dispersed and did not dare to move easily north of the Yangtze River. After the counties in Youzhou learned the news, the losses in Zhuoxian County were probably incalculable.
"Hateful! Hateful!" Liu Bei cursed in a low voice. He looked around and saw a green gauze tent, extending beyond it was a mulberry field. The area around the start of the war was trampled beyond recognition, but after half a day of rain yesterday, it seemed to have recovered a lot. Obviously, the battle was effectively carried out in a very short period of time, both due to our own negligence and the enemy's effective execution.
"If I were there..."
He couldn't help but reflect like this, and then his thoughts changed: "I shouldn't say such smart words after the fact. No matter what the reason is, if you lose, you lose. Now you just lost for a while. If you admit your mistake, you still have time to save the situation." But he suddenly thought that no matter what, this battle would always hurt his prestige. The county magistrates who had been watching a few days ago didn't know what to think. As he thought about it, he felt a slight pain in his chest.
"The Sword Comes"
This is his hometown after all, and the last time a person wants to fail is when he is in his hometown.
In the early morning of the next day, when the morning sun came out, most of the Han army came out from Zhuoxian County. After being washed by the rain, the weather was as clear as water, and the sky traces seemed to be within reach in the sunshine.
At this time, Taishi Ci also came back. He did not dare to look up at Liu Bei and apologized in a low voice: "Please forgive me, General. I didn't expect to set an ambush on the road, so many of my colleagues were implicated."
Liu Bei waved his hand, then helped him up and said, "It's not your fault. You are not familiar with the terrain here. I shouldn't have sent you first, or at least I should have found a good guide for you." He After a moment of silence, Tai Shici was asked to personally tell him the situation during the war, so as to find out the details of Yuan Jun.
Taishi Ci took this battle as a life-long shame, so he naturally kept the details in mind. From the time of entering the ambush to the response between the enemy and ourselves, he could tell it in detail. Liu Bei listened and asked from the side, how is Yuan Jun's armor? How about the bow and arrow? How are the horses? How about the flag? Especially who is the general? When he heard that the word "Ning Guo" was written on the flag, he knew that the enemy general was Zhang He. He couldn't help but sigh to the shogunate's assistants: "I met Zhang He on the way south. I saw him personally leading the elite troops to explore, but I thought it was of no use. , Unexpectedly, he has memorized the surrounding terrain clearly, what a clever general!"
But Fazheng, who was listening on the sidelines, suddenly asked: "Ziyi just said that all the Yuan troops in the ambush were Han soldiers. Could it be that there are no Wuhuan soldiers? Yuan Shang and Wuhuan combined forces, so logically there should be some!"
Taishi Ci lowered his head and thought for a moment, "I fought for an hour during the war, and it is true that no Wuhuan people were seen, but it may be that the battlefield was chaotic and I didn't pay attention."
Fa Zheng shook his head and said, "No, the speech habits of the Wuhuan people are very different from those of the Han people. Unless the number of people is very small, it is impossible not to notice it." He also called several envoys who had reported the news before and asked them what they were doing in Zhuo. The envoys were confused as to whether they had seen any Wuhuan people outside the county town, and they all said they had no impression.
After hearing this, Fazheng looked happy and said to Liu Bei: "Ming Gong, it's not too late to go and fight Anci now."
Seeing that Liu Bei couldn't understand, Fa Zheng explained: "Yuan Shang came to Zhuoxian, but Wu Huan was not seen in the army. It can be seen that Yuan Shang did not dare to trust him, so he could only use Wu Huan to stay in Anci to guard the camp. Wu Huan cannot be trusted, so naturally he can't trust him." We will not really work for the Yuan family. But now that the Yuan army is dragging the siege baggage and worrying about our army's harassment, it will definitely not move quickly. We can take this opportunity to attack Anci again. I dare to predict that Wuhuan will build a camp. Outside the city, our army won a small victory, and they naturally ran eastward!"
Liu Bei was greatly relieved and immediately ordered the entire army to turn around and attack southward with light equipment. The forward knights arrived at the northern suburbs of Anci in the middle of the night. As expected, they saw the Wuhuan people defending themselves in the city camp. However, they were not good at building camps and their defense was lax. The Han army sent three small teams to lurk over, and they easily set fire to the left and right sides of the camp. The light of the fire was like catkins floating in the military tent. It didn't take long before the horses and Wuhuan people were in chaos. The noise was as if it were in a busy city. .
Yuan Jun in the city saw a sudden fire in the camp outside the city, and there were shouts of killing everywhere, and he was so frightened that he couldn't calm down. Beyond the firelight, the night was as dark as a hollow, and it was unknown how many Han troops had arrived. The garrison in the city at this time was Su You, the captain appointed by Yuan Shao to protect Wuhuan. He was afraid that after opening the city, Wuhuan would be defeated and dispersed, which would lead to the loss of Anci. Therefore, the city gate is locked and does not react no matter what happens outside the city.
When the Wuhuan people saw this, they were greatly disappointed. Tadun immediately ordered people to blow the trumpet and retreat northward, leading his guards to rush towards Lulongsai.
When Liu Bei saw them escaping, he did not stop or pursue them. He just ordered his men to remove the flags left by Yuan Jun in front of the camp, and took with them all the Wuhuan wounded and prisoners who could not move. At dawn, he began to withdraw his troops to Jixian.
After the war, the Han army captured a total of 6,000 Wuhuan and captured about 4,000 horses. It was a fruitful harvest. After Liu Bei inspected the camp, he breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't help but smile to Fazheng and said: "Thanks to Xiaozhi's clever strategy, people's hearts are turning towards me again."
