Although it was the third day of April, the princes sent people to the battle site one day in advance. After confirming that there was nothing unusual, they immediately sent a message to Xingyang, and the princes led the army and set off.
It was the third day of April in the first year of Chuping.
The warm sun is high and the spring breeze is gentle.
The 160,000-strong army came out in full force. The originally wide city gate of Xingyang now seemed so narrow. It took a whole morning for all the army to leave the city.
Liu Dai rode a tall horse and walked side by side with Zhang Miao at the forefront of the team. Behind him were two large banners standing in the wind. He looked majestic and arrogant.
Next to him, Liu Bei saw him off with his own soldiers.
Originally a big battle involving hundreds of thousands of people, few armies from both sides gathered together for a decisive battle. Because there are too many variables and too many uncontrollable factors, once it fails, there will be no room for recovery.
However, due to Zhang Heng's previous operations, Niu Fu's former army was destroyed, and the Suanzao princes were also provoked to fight. Only then did this wonderful scene occur.
Before leaving, Liu Dai told Liu Bei: "My dear brother, I will hand over Xingyang to you, so that you can guard it and don't let the bandits take advantage of it."
"Don't worry, you are well prepared. Xingyang will be safe!" Liu Bei nodded.
Liu Dai smiled and said: "With these words from my wise brother, my foolish brother will feel relieved. Pass my general's order and the whole army will march forward!"
Following Liu Dai's order, the 160,000-strong army moved slowly, instantly raising endless smoke and dust. Even Zhang Heng, who was far away on the tower, choked a few times and quickly covered his mouth and nose.
This damn jujube prince wants to disgust me before he dies.
After a long time, when the smoke and dust cleared, Zhang Heng loosened his mouth and nose, waved vigorously with his sleeves, and smiled at Zhang Liao beside him: "Wen Yuan, go and invite Mr. Xuande up, and let's start decorating."
"only!"
Zhang Liao clasped his fists and left.
Soon, Liu Bei returned to the city and climbed onto the tower, looking at Zhang Heng with some confusion.
"Ziyi, how do you want to arrange it?"
Zhang Heng explained: "Naturally, the troops were divided into three groups and went out of the city to ambush."
"Why?"
"One is to prevent Dong's thieves from taking advantage of Xingyang's emptiness and sending troops to attack." Zhang Heng said with a smile, "Secondly, if the coalition forces are defeated, Dong's thieves will definitely take the opportunity to pursue them, but we just took the opportunity to make a surprise attack."
When people are full of ambition, they are often the least clear-headed. If Dong Zhuo really defeated the coalition forces, he would definitely take the opportunity to pursue his enemies in the north. At this time, he was most unprepared and took the opportunity to take action.
Zhang Heng didn't care about the life and death of the jujube coalition, but he was still happy to take advantage of the opportunity to attack Dong Zhuo.
When Liu Bei heard this, he nodded and said, "Then how many troops should we send out of the city to ambush?"
"Fifteen thousand people."
"This is too much!" Liu Bei said in shock.
Zhang Heng shook his head and said: "Not many. It is meaningless to keep soldiers and horses in the city now. It is better to release them to stop the Dong thief."
"That's fine. Since Ziyi thinks it's feasible, let's give the order." Liu Bei nodded.
"Yun Chang, Yide, and Wen Yuan each led their troops out of the city to ambush. Yunchang's troops stationed in Guoting, while Yide and Wenyuan were dormant on both sides of the Bian River. But seeing the coalition forces retreating, they were not in a hurry to kill them. Get out, let them pass, and then attack from behind!"
Hearing this, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhang Liao immediately stood up.
"As you command!"
"Go, rectify the soldiers, and leave the city tonight."
Liu Bei asked: "Ziyi, what about us?"
Zhang Heng replied: "Mr. Xuande, we can just sit in the city. Anyway, we still have thousands of soldiers and horses in our hands. Even if the Dong thief sends people to attack, we can still resist it."
It is worth mentioning that Cao Cao also led his troops to accompany the coalition forces to fight Dong Zhuo, so Liu Bei was the only one left in the city.
Although Cao Cao despised the behavior of all the princes, he was still very honest when he heard that he could fight Dong Zhuo.
Although Liu Bei had not treated him badly in previous joint operations, Cao Mengde always felt a little uncomfortable and was thinking about making achievements, so he followed the princes.
…
Twenty miles west of Xingyang.
Last time Zhang Ji led his army to severely defeat Liu Dai, which made Dong Zhuo very happy. In line with the principle of using it to death, Dong Zhuo's army is still the vanguard of Zhang Ji in this battle.
Dong Zhuo was not stupid. The location of the decisive battle was decided by the princes of Guandong, so he naturally wanted to send people to investigate in advance.
Therefore, Zhang Ji led his army to the battlefield last night.
Then, he saw the jujube coalition forces on the opposite side who were also exploring the terrain.
Although Zhang Xiu saw that the opponent was strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and repeatedly requested to fight, Zhang Ji refused.
First, Dong Zhuo only allowed himself to explore the terrain and did not allow himself to fight.
Between the two, Zhang Ji originally had the attitude of working hard but not contributing, and it would be best not to fight.
He doesn't want to fight, but it doesn't mean that the Kwantung Allied Forces on the opposite side are willing to settle down.
Seeing that Zhang Ji only had 5,000 men under his command, Zhang Chao, who came to explore the terrain, was overjoyed and immediately commanded the army to rush over.
In desperation, Zhang Ji had no choice but to fight.
It didn't matter if he didn't fight. After a fight, Zhang Ji found that the enemy army on the opposite side was actually weaker than he thought. He could hardly keep up with the enemy army that returned to Xingyang City.
Under the iron heel of Xiliang's elite, Zhang Chao was defeated without any suspense.
This time, Zhang Xiu was completely killed.
The two sides fought until late at night. Although Zhang Chao was defeated, Zhang Ji was still cautious and did not pursue him at night.
Taking advantage of this gap, the embarrassed Zhang Chaocai finally managed to unite the troops in the chaos and commanded the troops to slowly evacuate.
After daybreak, when the number of soldiers was counted, there were only less than 7,000 people left in the 10,000-strong army under his command. Zhang Chao couldn't help but became furious.
How can it be acceptable to lose troops and generals before starting a war?
In fact, not all the three thousand soldiers died in the battle. The army in this era did not have any united front mentality. Most of the soldiers were forcibly recruited, so naturally there was no sense of belonging.
In fact, this is true not only in the Han Dynasty, but also in all dynasties. The loss of troops is not equal to the death toll. The battle went unfavorably last night. The soldiers scrambled to flee, and many people were separated in panic.
Just when Zhang Chao was angry, the coalition forces finally arrived.
Zhang Miao saw his brother's embarrassment and understood everything in his heart. He quickly dismounted and rushed forward and asked with a frown: "Second brother, did you go to war yesterday?"
Zhang Chao nodded.
"Failed?"
Zhang Chao nodded again.
Hearing this, Zhang Miao couldn't help but became furious, "Didn't I ask you to explore the terrain? Why did you go out to fight without authorization?"
"Brother, when I saw that the number of rebels was small, I wanted to win first and defeat the enemy's spirit, but who knew..."
Zhang Chao explained a lot, but in the end he could not conceal the fact of his defeat. His voice became weaker and weaker, and he was unable to make up for it.
On the horse, Liu Dai couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, looking at Zhang Chao with eyes full of anger.
Not only did he launch troops without permission, but he also suffered a defeat. What a waste!
Fortunately, peacemaker Bao Xin stood up at this time and defended Zhang Chao: "Brother Meng Zhuo, Meng Gao was so eager to kill thieves that he fell into the enemy's trap. Don't be too harsh. We can win them back later." ."
"Brother, I'm just wrong!" Zhang Chao also bowed his hands and said.
"That's it, that's it." Zhang Miao walked down the slope and said, "I'll spare you this time. If you dare to disrespect military orders next time, I will punish you severely!"
Hearing this, Zhang Chao looked happy and quickly said, "Thank you, brother!"
Liu Dai on the side was sneering, and he couldn't stand Zhang Miao's behavior.
Just because he is your brother, he doesn't even have to punish you verbally?
If it were anyone else, I'm afraid you would have killed me long ago!
Although he was unhappy, Liu Dai had no intention of intervening. After all, Zhang Chao did not lose his own troops, and he could not command Yuan Shao's feudal lords.
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves suddenly sounded in the distance.
Everyone hurriedly looked around and saw a black mass of human heads pouring out like a tide on the horizon in the distance.
Everything as far as the eye could see was pitch black, almost even the sun's rays were blocked.
Dong Zhuo's army has arrived!
