Chapter 344: Fight in the Middle

It has always been the case that one should attack while his condition is weak. At the moment, Zhou Yu is the drowning dog who can be targeted by concentrated fire.

Thinking of the three stalemate fronts in Xuzhou at the moment, Liu Bei's last bit of reluctance to use Sun Ce's death to strike back at Zhou Yu disappeared.

"Send a message to Tan Zhi and order him to send troops to help!"

In this way, Zhou Yu, who was already in an uneasy state, would face a quick joint attack from him and Guan Ping.

Once Zhou Yu's troops were annihilated, Liu Bei could march to Sheyang without any worries.

He held Chen Gui's hand and said, "Thanks to your guidance, Zhou Yu was able to take the bait successfully."

Chen Gui denied, "Your Excellency should say that it was thanks to the Jingxian commander Zu Lang who tricked Sun Ce into death that we had this opportunity. But now is not the time to talk about this matter. Your Excellency, please act quickly and change the situation in Xuzhou. If Qiao Ye and Shu Teng are free to go north, we will be in real trouble."

This impending pressure made Chen Gui sigh that it was not by chance that this Grand Marshal could get his current position.

The shock brought by the two-front war in Youzhou and Yizhou last year has not yet ended. This year, on the one hand, he deployed troops in Luoyang with the intention of attacking Yanyu, and on the other hand, he personally visited Xuyang with the intention of advancing into the two states.

Who would have thought that she originally made her fortune in Bingzhou...

It only took a little over ten years for him to go from being the Marquis of Leping County to being a man who traveled all over the world.

Thinking about where their current pressure came from, Chen Gui couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

But we shouldn’t think too much about it right now, it’s better to deal with Zhou Yu first!

The army they led was marching from Huaiyin to Sheyang, and Zhou Yu was pursuing them from Huaiyin. This head-on blow must be swift enough, otherwise Zhou Yu would have the opportunity to retreat to the southwest and return to Yangzhou, or break free from his restraints and return to Huaiyin City, attracting Jia Xu's support.

Unfortunately, the area along the Xuzhou line is flat and there is not even a place for them to ambush.

If Zhou Yu was more inclined to return to Yangzhou at this moment, it would be impossible for him to cross Chaohe River in the southeast direction while heading south.

Their opportunities to send troops are very limited.

"General Zhang!"

Hearing Chen Gui's cry, Zhang Fei, who felt that he had avenged himself for provoking Zhou Yu under the city just now, hurriedly rode over.

"General Zhang, please start switching the front and rear armies. This time we will turn around and attack Zhou Yu's troops. We have to fight hard."

Fighting on the plains can best show the difference in hard power between the two armies.

Zhou Yu must not be underestimated. Even if they can really defeat him, they will inevitably suffer a lot of losses.

The only thing that is in their favor now is——

Their massive attack on Sheyang, according to the investigation of Jia Xu's scouts, was more like a change in Huaiyin, which had been captured by them. So, since the plain terrain was not conducive to interception, Jia Xu should have given priority to consolidating the defense of Sheyang rather than fighting outside the city.

But who would have thought that during the journey of more than a hundred miles, they would suddenly turn around and give Zhou Yu a head-on blow.

When Liu Bei heard Chen Gui's arrangement for Zhang Fei, he laughed and said, "Mr. Han Yu, why did you only arrange Yide but not my destination?"

Chen Gui bowed to him and said, "Please save your skills for conquering Sheyang and let General Zhang make a contribution first."

"However, General Zhang——"

Chen Gui raised his voice a little, "You must not let General Xiaoguan get there first."

In this era, sixteen or seventeen years old is considered the age to officially go to the battlefield.

Sun Ce, the governor of Yangzhou who just passed away, started his fight against bandits in Yangzhou at this age. Lu Lingju and others who were arranged by Qiao Yan to be stationed in Liaodong were also at this age. Guan Ping, who was stationed in Huaiyin at this moment, was also at this age.

As soon as he received the news sent by Liu Bei on express horse, he immediately mobilized all the remaining cavalry in the city. After sending someone to the Lianshui military camp to deliver an urgent report to Guan Yu, he immediately headed towards Huaiyin in the southwest direction.

Although he was going to complete a joint attack on Zhou Yu with Liu Bei and others, Guan Ping had already joined the military camp for three or two years and had learned a lot of military skills during this period.

From Liu Bei's few instructions, he clearly realized that since he was tasked with cutting off Zhou Yu's retreat, he had to take the biggest retreat as well.

That is, while all of Zhou Yu's troops had evacuated Huaiyin, he rode on cavalry and captured this important town in the Jianghuai region.

This is much more meaningful than him and Zhang Fei completing the rendezvous as soon as possible!

However, what he didn't know was that shortly after he left Huaipu, another team arrived near the city and happened to see Guan Ping sending troops.

After receiving the news from the scouts, Zang Ba immediately turned to Lu Su and asked, "Mr. Zijing, what should we do now?"

Lu Su pondered for a moment.

Because of the action of going north to Langya Kaiyang to contact Zang Ba, he could no longer receive the specific situation of the battle south of the Huai River in time and could only judge based on the original situation.

Huaiyin where Zhou Yu was located was surrounded by the armies of Zhang Fei and Liu Bei, which happened earlier. Now Guan Ping's troops in Huaipu have been dispatched. There are only two possibilities.

One possibility is that Liu Bei was facing a tense war over there, and he would rather give up using Guan Ping as Guan Yu's backup support and let him go south to help in the battle.

One possibility is that Zhou Yu is in a situation where he can be solved with just one more straw, and we should eliminate him in one fell swoop.

The former is unlikely to occur.

Although there were quite a few generals assigned by Qiao Yan to Xuzhou, the number of troops deployed was really small. It would be difficult to overwhelm Liu Bei's central troops, so...

It's the latter.

"We are not too late!" Lu Su replied to Zang Ba, "General, please immediately enter Huaipu in the name of the provincial government's transfer order. Leave some people to garrison there and we will immediately cross the Huai River to join the battle."

Zang Ba still had some doubts. "In the current situation, Liu Xuande's young men who stayed behind in Huaipu have all sent troops south. Is it really possible for the southern forces of Xuzhou to counterattack?"

Although Lu Su himself was not sure whether his guess was correct, he was extremely confident when he spoke, "Don't you know that there is gain in loss? Liu Bei's central army is the strongest. How can we completely cut off his limbs without leading him into a difficult situation?"

"Besides, the general is now in the position where the mantis stalks the cicada while the oriole waits behind."

Zang Ba replied: "Okay, I'll listen to you, sir."

Since he had already made the decision to support Qiao Yan, he was determined not to change his position at this time.

Take Huaipu first!

Huaipu, which Guan Ping had just left, had not yet been taken over by Guan Yu when it was greeted by Zang Ba's troops coming from the north.

Although this Langya garrison commander, known as the Taishan Bandit, had not previously clearly expressed his support for Liu Bei, he was always on Liu Bei's side because of his geographical location.

As soon as Guan Ping's dispatch arrived, Zang Ba said that he had received Liu Bei's order and Wang Lang's notice, and that he would come to take over the city of Huaipu, and then go south to provide support. This would not arouse the vigilance of the soldiers guarding the city.

They just felt that it was their own victory that made Zang Ba finally unable to sit still, and he had to come out and do something to consolidate his position in Xuzhou. Otherwise, after Liu Bei pacified the southern part of Xuzhou, Zang Ba would be the one in trouble.

"So he wanted to cut off Zhou Yu's retreat..." Zang Ba listened to the soldiers defending the city and felt that Lu Su was right. Now was a good time for him to perform the "oriole behind" drama.

"Isn't it the same for the general?" The soldiers guarding the city had already led in more than half of Zang Ba's troops. When they heard Zang Ba's words that showed he had clearly understood the situation, they became alert.

Just as he turned around, he suddenly saw a familiar face in the crowd.

Looking again, it turned out to be an acquaintance.

"Mr. Zijing, why are you here?"

Ever since Lu Su was captured by the southern part of Xuzhou last year, Liu Bei has repeatedly proposed conditions to the south to exchange the hostages, but has not been able to reach a deal. The north has already acquiesced that unless they recover the south, Lu Su will most likely not come back. But at this moment he shows up here, which is really surprising... No!

The soldier was suddenly startled.

This is more of a surprise than a joy!

If it was true that Lu Su was exchanged back and Zang Ba was persuaded to work for Liu Bei completely, this matter should never be hidden from them. At the very least, the people of Xuzhou should be informed of Lu Su's return!

Now, it is hard to say whether he is an enemy or a friend.

But before he could shout out this warning prediction, he felt a pain in his heart as if he was stabbed from behind.

The other defenders on the Huaipu city wall also had no time to respond before they noticed anything unusual.

Before Guan Ping evacuated this place and headed south to provide support, he only left behind more than a hundred elite soldiers here, who were completely unable to cope with such a sudden attack.

The soldiers guarding the city were soon replaced by Zang Ba's Taishan soldiers.

Afterwards, they took out spare weapons and armor from the treasury and completed another round of arming their team. After leaving Zang Ba's subordinate Yin Li and five hundred soldiers to guard the city, the rest of the soldiers followed closely and headed south.

At the same time, Jia Xu, who was in Sheyang, received news of the attack by Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and others, and at the same time received a letter of news of the arrival of reinforcements from Yangzhou.

It doesn't matter who the person from Yangzhou is, anyway...

"The encirclement is complete. How can those trapped in it escape?"

Jia Xu looked towards the north, a subtle smile appearing on his face.

Now, let's see what effect this double-sided oriole can have.

But at this moment, Liu Bei's army could not stand above Xuzhou and see such a scene of a large number of troops following closely.

They didn't know that behind Guan Ping's team that came to support Huaiyin was Lu Su and Zang Ba's team. They didn't know that in Sheyang on the other side, Han Dang, Jiang Qin, Wen Pin and others hardly stayed there after a brief meeting with Jia Xu, and went straight north. They would meet their team in less than half a day.

If they only focused their attention on the hundred-mile area between Huaiyin and Sheyang, all they could see was that Zhou Yu's army was about to be attacked from both sides on this plain.

Zhang Fei was ready to fight and had transferred his most elite cavalry to the rear army, which was the front army after changing direction, showing an attitude of preparing for a big fight.

If he could let Zhou Yu escape under such circumstances, he would be really embarrassed!

At the moment when Liu Bei's vanguard army reached the boundary of Chaohe River and was about to enter the security range of Sheyang City, Zhang Fei received the message to send troops.

It is indeed not easy for a team moving like a long dragon to complete a complete turn, but after the news of slowing down when encountering a river has been notified, the order to turn back is not that difficult.

Zhang Fei led the soldiers who were good at riding and shooting, and also rushed out with the chariots that accompanied the army.

To put it more accurately, this sudden turn of events was not a battle between two armies, but a premeditated encounter!

Cavalry charge is undoubtedly the most effective.

Zhou Yu looked at the smoke rising from the front with a gloomy face.

At this moment he had no time to think about whether the decision he made during Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting's visit and persuasion was right or wrong.

He did not have time to think about whether the other party's deliberate mention of Sun Ce's last words was a hint that he did not need to and could not delve into certain speculations further.

He must first follow the path arranged by Jia Xu so that he can smoothly return to Yangzhou after pacifying the war in Xuzhou and get the answer in his heart.

What he needed to do now was to prepare for the attack caused by Liu Bei's army's charge.

"You'd better not lie to me." Zhou Yu looked ahead and suddenly said something.

Qiao Ting rode on his horse, facing the approaching chaotic army, and replied calmly: "You may not believe what I say, but you should also believe that the Grand Marshal will not do anything to bring disaster to Jiangnan."

Using such a sudden and intensified way of fighting to end the war in Xuzhou before the spring plowing this year would be a good thing for the people in Xuzhou and Yangzhou.

Even in this fierce explosion, Zhou Yu, who is at the center and serves as the bait, must be the most dangerous and the one who least trusts Qiao Yan, but they still have to promote this situation.

Qiao Ting added: "I won't joke about my own life either."

Qiao Yan allowed the two sisters to withdraw from the dangerous work of transmitting intelligence and fanning the flames as soon as possible, so that after they had learned some skills, they would no longer have to worry about becoming pawns for marriage, but would be a driving force in the world's affairs. This is what a confidant does in the saying "A gentleman will die for his confidant."

But now is not the time for her to die!

She also had to have her name proudly written down in the ancestral hall genealogy of the Qiao family in Leping!

Zhou Yu asked no more questions and signaled his subordinates to protect this special lobbyist safely. Facing the aggressive Zhang Fei, he gave the order to meet the enemy.

Distinguishing between friend and foe consumed a lot of his energy, and accepting the fact of Sun Ce's death made him even more tired, but this did not mean that he would fall into a disadvantage in Zhang Fei's attack!

The exhaustion that he was trying so hard to suppress at the moment was merely his personal expression, and was definitely not the state displayed by his former troops.

His previous pretended posture of half pursuit and half retreat, which allowed him to arrange shield soldiers and archers in front of the marching line, did not arouse the enemy's vigilance at all. It seemed that he wanted to withdraw from the battle of Xuzhou more and more.

When the cavalry and chariots led by Zhang Fei galloped across the flat land of Xuzhou, Zhou Yu's eyes had completely returned to calm.

Neither he nor the team he led had to think about what they should do after Sun Ce's death. They only had to -

Defeat their opponents!

As soon as the two armies clashed, Zhang Fei realized something was wrong.

Zhou Yu's defense was too solid.

The rain of arrows above the plain no longer had the speed of falling from the top of the city wall, but it still had the interference of being launched at a high angle and the accuracy of shooting directly through the gaps in the shields.

This was definitely not good news for Zhang Fei, who should have disrupted the enemy's team with his battering ram in the first encounter.

What made him feel that something was not right with the situation was that when he tried to move his cavalry around the flank and cut off Zhou Yu's marching team, the advantage of the enemy's slow advance finally became apparent.

The cavalry on Zhou Yu's side accurately intercepted him in front of him just before he achieved his goal, and a fierce fight broke out.

Even though the reinforcements from the rear had turned this momentary obstruction into two torrents colliding here, it was still difficult to stop one thing -

At this moment, a terrible guess arose in Zhang Fei's mind.

Zhou Yu's march was slow, as if he was not facing the dilemma of dealing with the news of Sun Ce's death, but he was simply using himself as a trap to lure them into it!

The spear in his hand quickly shook off the cavalrymen who were surrounding him, and in the melee of close combat, he captured Zhou Yu's location. He saw the thin young general methodically dispatching a group of infantry who had just experienced a war of attrition to retreat, and then dispatching another team with spears and complete armor.

The soldiers in action gradually formed a clearly defined barrier in the team that was supposed to be interweaving and tearing each other apart.

With the sound of shields falling to the ground, this barrier made up of shields and spears seemed to take root here in an instant.

Take root in this wilderness land.

Zhang Fei can't retreat now!

Once he turns around and moves away, recovering to a certain distance away, the archers on the opposite side who are already in position will surely cause great damage to him.

But he couldn't get in!

If he could disrupt the formation of these Yangzhou soldiers with great force, the advantage would definitely be on his side, but the moment this barrier was formed, he had already fallen into a passive situation.

Just at this moment, Zhou Yu's loud shout mixed with the sounds of frequent fighting was heard clearly by Zhang Fei.

"The one who disrupted our army's morale and alienated our alliance is none other than this Yan man Zhang Fei. Whoever helps me take his head and present it to Sun Lang will have his position as a captain!"