Before the whole army was dispatched, Liu Bei first dispersed a wave of money according to the number of people to boost morale and encourage the soldiers to win more rewards after the war, making the soldiers happy.
Then, he ordered his soldiers and horses, and the army attacked, traveling across mountains and rivers to reach the location of the rebels' food route.
It can be said that Liu Bei was lucky. When he arrived at his destination, the sentry report happened to run into a well-defended rebel food transport team. The food transport team was large in size and the garrison force was large.
Xia Houyuan asked Liu Bei what to do next, and Liu Bei smiled coldly.
"How to do it? Life and death are determined by fate, wealth and honor. On the battlefield, no one is more afraid of death than anyone else! Come on!"
The enemy is right in front of us, so any strategy is meaningless.
Liu Bei led his troops to fight with him. The battle lasted all day long, and Xia Houyuan and Dong Huang were very active.
The two of them each got the merit of killing a rebel officer, so the Han army defeated the rebel grain convoy at dusk, won the victory, captured all the rebel grain and baggage, and actually cut off the rebel army. Grain transportation route from Jincheng County to Yuzhong County.
After the battle was won, Liu Bei ordered his troops to immediately clean the battlefield and make food, eat as quickly as possible to replenish their strength, then race against time to take turns sleeping, and disperse the sentinels widely to prepare for another battle.
At the same time, he also sent people back to report the results to Zhou Shen, and also gave Zhou Shen a batch of rebel grain and flags, so that Zhou Shen could use them to shake the military morale of the Yuzhong City rebels.
At the same time, he did not forget to warn Zhou Shen to pay attention to Sun Jian and give Sun Jian enough troops to ensure the safety of his own grain transportation route and prevent the rebels from suddenly attacking the army's grain route from other routes.
Liu Bei believed that Sun Jian's ability could protect the grain road, but it would not be possible if it were someone else.
This is really dangerous.
However, this possibility is not very high, because on the premise that our own grain transportation route has been cut off, Yuzhong is actually an isolated city, and both Bian Zhang and Han Sui are trapped in the city and cannot move.
At this time, what the rebels in Jincheng County need to do most is not to attack the Han army's food road in turn, but to open the food road as soon as possible to meet the Yuzhong rebels and prevent the Yuzhong rebels from being swallowed up by the Han army.
Unless there are strong men on the rebel side who want to play tactics with the Han army in exchange for family, and are willing to use Han Sui and Bian Zhang as bets to start a huge bet with the Han army, betting on who has good luck and who is bolder.
This is the essence of the coward game.
Liu Bei is not a coward. He has been gambling all his life since he was a child. He has lost and won, and has been beaten to a bloody head. But he still persevered. He is an excellent and calm gambler. He has the ability to gamble. The courage to go down.
So, let’s sit down and gamble!
See who is the hero and who is the bear!
And subsequent facts proved that there were no strong men on the rebel side who dared to play tactics with the Han army in this state.
On October 13th of the second year of Zhongping, the second day after Liu Bei cut off the rebel food routes, a rebel cavalry force of more than 5,000 people came from the direction of Jincheng County and hurried over to fight with the Han. Army decisive battle.
Liu Bei learned about this incident several hours in advance through the sentinel sent in advance, and had already made arrangements and set up an ambush. When the rebel cavalry entered the ambush, the ambush spread everywhere, blocking the roads in front and behind of the rebel cavalry, and then killed them together. out, limiting the mobility of the rebel cavalry to the greatest extent.
Although the rebel cavalry dared to fight, they could not defeat the Han army. Except for a few who broke out of the encirclement and escaped, most of them were left behind by the Han army and were either killed or captured. Liu Bei's army captured many.
The rebels seemed to realize that they had done something stupid. Instead of sending people over in a hurry to deliver the heads, they spent time mobilizing an infantry force of more than 20,000 people and arrived here two days later. Liu Bei's troops launched a counterattack.
This time they were cautious and did not give Liu Bei an opportunity. Liu Bei could only rely on the favorable terrain to set up defenses and confront the rebels hill by hill, facing off head-on.
The rebels were large in number, and the Han army occupied good terrain and had the advantage of taking the lead. The two sides fought hard for seven or eight days without deciding the outcome.
Dong Huang was very active among them, leading elite cavalry to attack the rebel troops many times, defeating small rebel units several times, and eliminating the threat to the Han defenders.
Xia Houyuan was not willing to lose to Dong Huang. He led his cavalry to fight against the rebels many times. He also beheaded a rebel officer and asked Liu Bei for credit. Liu Bei was overjoyed and hugged Xia Houyuan.
When Dong Huang was seriously injured after five days of fighting and had to retreat to recuperate, Liu Bei had to take on the responsibility of firefighters together with Xia Houyuan. He personally led the elite assault cavalry to become firefighters on the Han army's defensive front.
Before the war, he distributed beacon and beacon materials to various garrison troops, so that when they encountered a real crisis, they would light beacons during the day and beacons at night. Liu Bei would be able to detect which part of the defense was in crisis, and then he would Personally lead the assault cavalry to support them.
Zhen Yan, who was responsible for protecting Liu Bei, objected to this and asked him to lead the attack with Liu Bei in the middle. If he was not careful, Liu Bei should immediately abandon his army and retreat, and he could not fight to the death.
Zhen Yan is willing to cut off Liu Bei's heir, even if he pays his life for it, he will not hesitate.
Xia Houyuan also expressed this view, and advised Liu Bei that he would stay behind while Liu Bei retreated and try to bring more reinforcements. He would hold on until the last moment.
"The world can be without the abyss, but it cannot be without you!"
Liu Bei expressed strong dissatisfaction with this.
"I was just worried that I wouldn't be able to hold on, so I issued a military order to die! Now that you ask me to abandon the army and run away, do you want me to be beheaded directly when I go back? I would rather die here than live in an ignoble way. matter!"
Zhen Yan and Xia Houyuan were speechless and could only admit that Liu Bei was a hard-core macho man rarely seen in the world.
They all realized that as long as they could survive, if Liu Bei could not achieve great things, Zhen Yan and Xia Houyuan were determined to take off their own eyeballs and drink them!
When things have reached this point, there is nothing more to say.
With infinite longing for the future, both Zhen Yan and Xia Houyuan had no regard for life and death. Whenever there was smoke or beacon fire, they would follow Liu Bei on horseback and charge into battle.
And Liu Bei was the one who led the charge and took the lead.
The Art of War says that those who have the same desire from above and below will win.
The Han army all wanted to win, and at the very least they wanted to live. They would also feel fear when the smoke and beacon fires were lit, but when they saw the banner of "Liu, the Captain of Cavalry" roaring with the sudden cavalry, they felt in their hearts The fear will gradually disappear.
The Lord General is watching them, and the Lord General has never abandoned them. The Lord General has kept his promise. No matter how the rebels threaten them, the Lord General keeps his word. As long as there is danger, he will definitely bring troops to help and fight the enemy to the death.
Liu Bei's credibility is a major guarantee for the morale of the Han army. Because of trust, Han soldiers are willing to fight vigorously instead of fleeing in panic once they encounter the enemy, running faster than the generals.
As a result, the morale of the Han army defenders was greatly boosted, and they fought back bravely. Some officers who were not afraid of death even led the defenders' infantry to swoop back and defeat the rebel offensive troops many times. They were full of fighting spirit.
The rebels were still unable to break through the Han army's defense line, and with twice the strength, they were still unable to open the food channel to meet the Yuzhong rebels. They became more and more impatient, but there was no way.
After the two sides fought fiercely for more than ten days, Liu Bei, who was wounded by an arrow, felt quite exhausted. He felt that if the fighting continued, he might not be able to hold on, and neither could the soldiers.
He didn't know what was going on at the rear, or whether Zhou Shen had successfully broken through Yuzhong City. He just hoped that Zhou Shen would hurry up and not waste the good opportunity he had created here.
Another day passed before he finally got the news.
The Yuzhong City rebels could no longer hold on.
————————————
PS: I ate delicious cabbage and pork dumplings this morning. They were delicious. I ate fifteen of them in one go, so I’ll add another chapter.
(End of chapter)