Man Chong stood firm and refused to fight in the face of Guan Yu. It can be said that he knew he was outmatched, so he stood firm.
Man Chong refused to fight in the face of Guan Ping. It can be said that he used the big to bully the small and won without using force.
There is no reason for Man Chong to insist on not fighting when facing Zhang Yi.
Moreover, although Guan Yu only holds the official position of General Dang Kou, who in the world does not know that Guan Yu is a famous general, and within Cao Wei, the entire Liu Bei Group, the only person they can like is Guan Yu.
Therefore, there is a saying that "famous generals only have feathers".
If Man Chong didn't fight against Guan Yu, no one would laugh at him.
As for Guan Ping, although Guan Ping only had the official position of school lieutenant, it was because Guan Yu did not promote his son. Man Chong could also use the fact that the tiger father had no dog son as an excuse, and it was okay not to go to war.
But Zhang Yi. These days, any army commander would dare to challenge the general in front of the battle, right? !
Although Man Chong knew clearly that this was Guan Yu's plan to lure him out of the city to fight in the field, Man Chong really couldn't bear it.
If he endures it any longer, his reputation will be lost.
Therefore, Man Chong decided to gather three thousand troops, line up against the city, and go to battle.
This battle must be fought, and it must be won.
Man Chong was not a regular civil servant, he was someone with experience in leading troops.
When Cao Cao followed Cao Cao south to Jingzhou, Man Chong once teamed up with Xu Huang to intercept Guan Yu. After Cao Cao returned to the north after Red Cliff, Man Chong also served as the Linju guard to support Cao Ren in Fancheng. When he served as the prefect of Runan, Man Chong also once He has rich experience in leading troops to exterminate mountain bandits and bandits.
Therefore, Man Chong led 3,000 people out of the city, because Zhang Yi on the opposite side only brought more than 1,000 people to call for formation. With 3,000 people against more than 1,000 people, he thought it was a very sure and cautious approach.
Moreover, Man Chong had no intention of personally leading the troops to the front. He knew that his martial arts skills were not outstanding, and he did not know the strength of the unknown young general opposite him. For the sake of insurance, Man Chong chose to sit in the rear and command, and even deliberately It widens the distance between the command position and the enemy's forward, ensuring that it is two arrows away.
In this way, even the strong bows and crossbows in the army cannot hurt themselves.
Man Chong, who was cautious, commanded his soldiers and attacked Zhang Yi who had few people. Then he was stunned.
Why did Man Chong feel that his three thousand soldiers were no match for the more than one thousand people? !
He was the one who took the initiative to attack, but he was instantly suppressed by the opponent's military formation. When the opponent advanced, his own soldiers were unable to effectively block it. It felt like he had just come into contact with the opponent's forward and had not yet fought in close combat. Well, he was defeated by the other party.
Taking a closer look at the soldiers and horses brought by the enemy general, it was once again unclear. It was not the "beggar army" encountered at Hanjin Ferry. Could it be that the army at Hanjin Ferry was not an elite soldier? An army of beggars? !
If Liu Bei's men were all such elite soldiers, how could he have improved in recent years? !
Man Chong didn't understand, and really couldn't understand what Liu Beijun's true combat power was.
But Man Chong also knew that whether he could understand it or not, the situation he was facing now was like this. If he didn't make adjustments, the former army might be defeated.
Man Chong quickly adjusted his formation and ordered the soldiers on both wings to move closer to the center, trying to use the numerical advantage to strengthen the defense thickness and fight as much as he could.
After all, there are three thousand people, no matter what, they are better than the over a thousand people on the opposite side, right? !
But soon, Man Chong discovered that he was a little unable to command.
In other words, as time goes by and the number of casualties among our own soldiers increases, the morale of the former soldiers of the Manchu Army is extremely low and is on the verge of collapse.
After all, Man Chong was someone who could use Sun Shiwan as his experience package. His commanding ability was not bad. It could be seen that the morale of his own soldiers was no longer good. He thought it would be shameless to simply return to Fancheng and defend.
Although doing so will bring shame to one's reputation. A great general can't defeat an army commander, so it won't sound good if you say it out loud.
But if Fancheng is lost because of this, Man Chong will definitely be held accountable by Cao Cao, and then his future will be over.
Just when Man Chong felt that he could temporarily lose face for the sake of his future, a mutiny suddenly occurred in Zhang Yi's army, and Zhang Yi seemed to be unable to control his soldiers.
This sudden surprise immediately made Man Chong aware of the opportunity to win.
The first one to react was Man Chong's former army. They had been suppressed and beaten, and the losses were not small. As a result, the opponent suddenly appeared in a messy formation and began to retreat. The soldiers of the front army did not think so much and directly Pressed up.
Man Chong, who was in the rear army, saw that the front army suddenly cheered up and drove back the enemy general's troops. He didn't think much at the moment and ordered his soldiers to press forward, trying to defeat the infantry led by Zhang Yi in one attack.
This way at least he doesn't have to bear the reputation of being defeated by Army Sima.
But just after the order was given, Man Chong followed the troops in pursuit for less than two miles, and suddenly realized - No!
Just now, the Army Sima was commanding and suppressing his own army well. How could there be a sudden mutiny in the army without warning? !
How could the enemy's elite troops, who had been suppressing their own soldiers, mutiny so easily? !
This is definitely a trap.
After waking up, Man Chong quickly ordered the entire army to stop the pursuit and take precautions on the spot. But with three thousand people, it was not easy to stop at the drop of a hat.
An army these days is a strong army if it can enforce orders and prohibitions. Even Cao's army, not every army has this quality.
Many people, in fact, are just farmers who have just put down their hoes. They are fighting against the wind, but it is so easy to stop.
This is not just a matter of drawing a frame with a mouse and clicking on it. It takes a long time from Man Chong's military order to be conveyed to the entire army to stop.
Man Chong ordered the entire army to stop, and the rear army slowly stopped. However, the soldiers in the front army who had not received military orders were still pursuing. The entire pursuit force was getting longer and longer.
At this moment, the defeated troops led by Zhang Ni suddenly turned around and attacked Man Chong's front army.
Two armies also appeared on both sides of the Manchu Army. Although they were both infantry, they moved very quickly.
It happened that Man Chong knew the leading generals of the two teams, and one of them, a red-faced bearded man carrying the Qinglong Yanyue Sword, was still fresh in his memory.
Man Chong made a decisive decision. No matter whether the front army had stopped or not, he directly led the rear army to escape with all his strength and ran back to Fancheng to win.
Man Chong ran really fast and gave his orders in time. At least half of the soldiers in the rear army ran back to Fancheng before they were attacked by three groups of troops.
As for the remaining half of the soldiers, Man Chong couldn't care less.
Whether to die or surrender, this is not within the scope of Man Chong's consideration. He has now made it clear that even if his reputation is extremely bad, he will not fight again.
Especially among the soldiers and generals Guan Yu brought, none of them were easy to mess with.
On Guan Yu's side, after collecting the surrendered Cao soldiers, they also withdrew their troops and returned to camp.
Then, Guan Yu looked solemn and asked Zhang Yi to give him an explanation why he turned around and killed the enemy without luring Cao Jun to the designated ambush point.
Guan Yu's battle plan required Zhang Yi to fake defeat in front of Man Chong's formation and lure Man Chong into pursuit. After luring Man Chong to the designated location, Guan Yu and Guan Ping attacked the two wings of Man Chong's army and besieged Man Chong from three sides.
The signal to launch an ambush was for Zhang Yi to command his soldiers to turn around and kill the enemy.
However, Zhang Yi did not attract Man Chong's pursuers to the planned ambush place before turning back and killing the enemy, forcing Guan Yu and Guan Ping to fight out in advance to cooperate with Zhang Yi's siege.
The result of this was to give Man Chong enough time to retreat and run back to Fancheng with at least half of his soldiers.
This is against military orders. Guan Yu must ask clearly. Even if Zhang Yi is recommended by Zhang Xi, if he disobeys military orders in the army, he will still be subject to military law.
But Zhang Yi, he also has his own difficulties.
There were two surprises in luring the enemy this time.
The first surprise was the surprise of Jingzhou Army's land combat capabilities.
Because he wanted to deceive the enemy with a false defeat, the soldiers assigned by Guan Yu to Zhang Yi were indeed elite. If they were not elite, if they failed to comply with the orders and prohibitions, then the false defeat would become a real defeat.
The combat effectiveness of these elites is relatively strong. In addition, as an elite, Guan Yu immediately changed the Miao Dao to the soldiers. The Miao Dao was longer than the standard Huanshou Dao at this time.
When fighting with long swords and long spears, the soldiers on both sides did not feel any difference. However, once they were in close combat, Liu Bei's soldiers holding Miao swords beat Cao's army holding Huanshou swords and retreated steadily.
On the one hand, it's because the Miao Dao is a bit longer than the Huanshou Dao. It's only you who can cut him, not him who can cut you.
There are even some elite soldiers who dare to spar with the pikemen with Miao Dao in hand. You can tell how big the difference in combat power is.
On the other hand, the gap in the forging process of weapons between the two sides is also the key to determining battlefield factors.
Although everyone is made of iron, the carbon content is different, and the weapons made have different hardness and toughness.
When Cao Jun's Huanshou Sword and Liu Beijun's Miao Sword came into contact, many of them broke at the first touch and shattered at the first cut. How could they fight? !
Therefore, Zhang Yi's army, which was supposed to be defeated, actually completely suppressed Man Chong's army in the first battle. Zhang Yi was completely unexpected.
No, this battle is to be lost, not won.
But Zhang Yi couldn't shout like that on the battlefield, so he had to create a so-called mutiny in a very far-fetched way to remind some of the soldiers who were going crazy that we had to withdraw.
Zhang Yi finally restrained his soldiers and pretended to be defeated, which indeed attracted the pursuit of Man Chong's army. However, not long after the pursuit, Zhang Yi found that the pursuit of Man Chong's army had slowed down.
After running less than two miles, there was definitely no possibility that the sergeant could not run away. It was obvious that the enemy general had sensed the trap and was preparing to stop the troops and stop pursuing them.
Zhang Ni also knew that his fake defeat just now was too fake and too easy to be seen through. He also knew that if he did not launch an ambush in advance at this time, all Cao's troops would retreat to Fancheng.
Therefore, Zhang Yi gritted his teeth and turned around to kill the enemy in advance. It was better to hold back at least some of the enemy troops than to let them all run away.
And this was also the reason why Zhang Yi launched the ambush in advance.
The final result also proved that Zhang Yi was right to launch an ambush in advance. Man Chong ran faster than a rabbit. As soon as he saw Guan Yu and Guan Ping coming out, he immediately led his men back to Fancheng. He was obviously well prepared.
After Guan Yu listened to Zhang Ni's story, he couldn't blame Zhang Ni for anything.
To be fair, Zhang Yi's approach was not wrong. On the battlefield, it is impossible for everything to develop as predicted before the war. If Zhang Yi had not acted decisively and launched a counterattack in advance, then today's results may have been nothing.
Now at least more than 300 people from Cao's army have been killed and more than 500 people have been captured, which can be regarded as weakening Fancheng's defense force.
However, after such a blow, Guan Yu felt that with Man Chong's character, he would not leave the city to fight in the field even if he was killed.
So, has Zhang Yuanchang’s trebuchet been built? !
This has been more than ten days.
(End of chapter)
