Chapter 364: Shi Xie Sends Out Troops
The only chance!
But it is also a very likely chance to lose your life.
But Wei Yan was not like Zhang Yun who could directly rely on his uncle Liu Biao to get promoted, nor was he like Cai Mao who was a descendant of a noble family in Xiangyang. The only one he could rely on was himself. How could he not understand the principle that wealth and honor can be sought in danger?
Liu Biao was right. When he shouted out the news that the Lord of the Mansion was dead, not only would the enemy be likely to kill him for trying to surrender because they did not believe in his identity, but if Liu Biao really died, their team would inevitably fall into absolute chaos in an instant.
If he fails to kill the enemy leader as soon as possible, they will be the first to be defeated because of the news, or the more mobile soldiers will realize that this news cannot be allowed to spread on a large scale and launch a fatal attack on him!
But so what?
The gap in his own conditions meant that if he did not rely on such a desperate fight, he would never be valued by Liu Biao.
Only at this time, when Liu Biao's nephew Zhang Yun died tragically under the hooves of the elephant soldiers, Cai Mao was still far away in Chen County, and Liu Biao's own life was under great threat, did he have a good opportunity to show his skills.
"Wei Yan is willing to give it a try!"
"Good!" Liu Biao patted him on the shoulder. He felt that it was a sign of God's will that he could meet such a fearless and capable subordinate at this moment.
What made him realize that he had not lost all his opportunities was that he saw Huo Du and the soldiers he led coming to the nearby area in search of his whereabouts, and they happened to be the people he mentioned who would accompany Wei Yan.
The Jiaozhou general who was driving the elephant soldiers was manipulating his mount to launch a mopping-up attack on the fleeing Jingzhou soldiers in front of him, when he suddenly heard a shout from the crowd.
"The Lord is dead, please show mercy!"
The title of Fujun is so iconic!
Most of the time, that was a title only used by governors and provincial governors.
The Jiaozhou general with a red scarf on his head suddenly realized the meaning of this title and looked hurriedly in the direction where the sound came from. He saw several panicked soldiers trying to escape from the vortex in the chaotic herd of horses that were frightened and scattered by them. They didn't even care who was the enemy and who was a friend, and rushed directly towards the direction of them, the Jiaozhou soldiers.
This is not a wrong judgment.
If you are accidentally caught in the trampling range of the elephant soldiers, you will indeed end up with no body left.
But what if they want to hide behind the elephant soldiers?
This was clearly their chance of survival.
When the Jiaozhou soldiers who were reorganizing in the rear had already charged into the place with torches in hand, from the position of the Jiaozhou general who was sitting on the back of an elephant, the upstream actions of Wei Yan and others could not be more clear, and he could also vaguely see the too young face of Wei Yan who made the noise.
He couldn't help but laugh, "Young people just can't keep calm."
Not far from him, another man sitting on the elephant's back asked, "General, do you want to let them go?"
He immediately replied: "Release them! Why not! Isn't this a good time for us to seize the opportunity to pursue the enemy?"
If they knew that they would not be killed if they surrendered to them, the obstacles they encountered in their encirclement and suppression would definitely be greatly reduced.
Moreover, at this moment, as Wei Yan's clear and audible slogan reached his ears, his attention was no longer on whether he could kill all the Jingzhou soldiers, but on the two words "Lord of the Mansion" that occupied his entire mind.
None of his opponents refuted this statement, and some even took a step towards collapse when they were already at a disadvantage. This means that what Wei Yan shouted was very likely true.
Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou, actually arrived here in person, but was caught off guard by the elephant soldiers stranded here by Zhang Jin, and died here?
This possibility made the leader of the Jiaozhou soldiers, who thought he had captured at most one or two generals, extremely excited.
He might be about to achieve the greatest military achievement in this northern offensive!
In the face of this military achievement, the number of enemies killed is simply the most insignificant factor.
It was precisely because of this thought, coupled with the fact that the chaotic firelight around him could easily blur people's vision, that he did not notice that while Wei Yan and the soldiers who were running towards him were much stronger than ordinary warriors. Some of them even rode on horses and quietly clenched their weapons.
When the Jiaozhou general who intended to find out whether Liu Biao was really dead here passed by them, this "surrendering" team, which originally seemed to be in a panic, suddenly stabbed towards the other side like a sharp knife.
Wei Yan aimed the crossbow in his hand at the leader of the elephant soldiers.
Even though his heart was pounding with fear because he was about to succeed, the arrow did not deviate at all and pierced the opponent's head accurately in the intersection.
The explosive force generated by the attack at close range can instantly take the opponent's life.
But Wei Yan's actions have not stopped.
The soldiers who were attacking the surrounding elephant cavalry at the same time did not stop.
At this distance, they could see clearly that in order to ensure that they would not be thrown off the elephants during the charge, these Jiaozhou elephant soldiers had tied themselves to the elephants' backs, just as Liu Biao had judged.
So even if they were dying at this moment, they still sat there steadily, allowing the elephants they were riding to maintain the forward movement and continue to ram the Jingzhou soldiers on the opposite side.
They need to do one more step!
Wei Yan swung the rope in his hand towards the enemy leader's body.
Then he climbed onto the elephant's back.
Because of the training of the Jiaozhou soldiers, the marching elephants did not have the speed of a cavalry charge, but instead slowed down their pace a little. The person on the elephant's back had already died and was unable to stop him effectively.
But even so, this climb is still not an easy task.
Even with a warning whistle, a feather arrow shot from nowhere and pierced straight into Wei Yan's back. Fortunately, he put on Huo Du's protective armor before setting off, which blocked the arrow.
Another sharp arrow followed closely and pierced his arm.
It was unknown where the motivation came from, but Wei Yan did not let go of the rope. Instead, he burst out with amazing strength at this moment, allowing him to climb onto the elephant's back under the cognitive pressure of dying if he failed. He quickly untied the rope that originally belonged to the opposing cavalry general and kicked the man down.
The noise coming from this high place was enough for Liu Biao to see clearly.
What is undoubtedly more striking is the subsequent changes.
It is not easy to tame the elephant soldiers. At least it is impossible for Wei Yan to replace the original elephant soldier in a short time.
The death of the cavalry and the manipulation of the stranger caused the elephant to fall into a manic state in an instant. It changed its original pace of rushing forward and tried its best to run back to the original military camp.
Wei Yan fell on the elephant's back without thinking and held the rope tightly.
This return movement is bound to cause it to collide with its companions. When some of its companions have lost their operators, this collision becomes unavoidable.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Liu Biao, with the help of Huo Du, getting back on the horse, and then appearing in front of the soldiers in a high-profile manner with the enemy torches they had snatched.
The rumor that the Lord of the Mansion was dead was self-defeating. Instead, the enemy leader had paid the price with his life at this moment.
If this isn't the time for a counterattack, when else could it be?
Wei Yan vaguely heard the sound of killing the enemy made by Liu Biao, and then someone blew the horn in the army as an attack order.
Soon, the sound of close combat replaced the original sound of fleeing in panic.
This is a sign that the situation on their side has changed!
Even if Wei Yan could not see clearly that the troops, now commanded by Liu Biao, had recovered from the disarray and disarmament that almost made them think he was dead, a huge change was indeed taking place.
So what he had to do was to save his life in such a chaotic situation.
It's not easy.
Elephants, which are mostly distributed in southern Anhui, the Pearl River Basin and Funan, were completely unfamiliar to Wei Yan, who was born in the Central Plains.
At this moment, he couldn't even remember how he had climbed onto the elephant's back with such courage, and how he had used the little strength he had left to aim the crossbow in his hand at another elephant soldier.
Among those who risked their lives to rush to the enemy's front, it seemed that only he who had managed to climb up was able to survive, while the rest had become victims of the desperate trampling of these elephants who had lost their composure.
But Wei Yan didn't dare to feel lucky at this moment.
As long as he had not gotten off the elephant's back, he was always in danger.
The elephant, which had tried to shake him off but failed, was becoming more and more agitated.
Perhaps because it was the strongest among its kind, after breaking free from all the interceptions, it went straight back, opened the camp gate and rushed forward.
He forced his way through the crowd.
Not sure if the previous attacks and climbs had exhausted all of Wei Yan's energy, but he felt his palms starting to go numb, and he might even let go of the rope and fall down at any time.
When a haystack appeared in the hazy night, he gritted his teeth and fell off the elephant.
This blow knocked him unconscious.
When he woke up, he saw the faint morning light filtering through the cracks in the haystack. The sound of the fighting outside could hardly be heard anymore, as if it had completely died down.
In the end, was it the soldiers from Jingzhou who won, or the soldiers from Jiaozhou who won?
Although judging by Wei Yan's condition before he fainted, Liu Biao would never miss this opportunity to turn defeat into victory, and the numerical advantage of the Jingzhou soldiers was enough for them to achieve this victory, Wei Yan still felt a little uneasy.
But before he could stick his head out to observe the current situation, the upper layer of the haystack where he was was suddenly opened.
The sudden unobstructed light from the door made him squint subconsciously, and then he met Huo Du's face.
Huo Du was overjoyed when he saw Wei Yan. "So you are here. I thought you were lucky and didn't die with the elephant that fell off the cliff. It turns out you jumped off early."
As he had Wei Yan lifted onto a stretcher, he said, "Fortunately, I turned back and searched the camp, otherwise you would have had to find a way to go back north on your own."
"This time, because of the presence of the elephant soldiers, the Lord of the Mansion almost got into trouble, which made him very angry. After winning this battle, he urgently mobilized the soldiers from Nanjun and Jiangxia County to march south in large numbers."
Wei Yan smiled bitterly in his heart. The fact that Huo Du didn't say a word about Liu Biao's concern for him was very telling.
If he had the misfortune to die in this battle, I am afraid he would not get much military credit.
But fortunately, he is still alive.
Perhaps because of the turnaround brought about by his efforts, Huo Du, who was also a general, had a good impression of him. This meant that if he wanted to obtain a status that matched his military achievements, it should not be too difficult.
After returning to Chen County with Huo Du and reuniting with Liu Biao, Wei Yan was indeed personally commended by Liu Biao as the first contributor to this battle.
"It's a pity that you broke your leg and can only be sent back to Xiangyang for treatment. You can't personally participate in the battle to encircle and suppress Zhang Jin." Huo Du said with regret when he sent Wei Yan to the carriage. "But you can be regarded as a blessing in disguise. Since the Lord promised you that you would replace General Zhang after you recover from your injury, it was definitely not perfunctory."
The position left vacant by Zhang Yun's death was supposed to be divided up among the Xiangyang families and replaced by someone else. However, Liu Biao was such a shrewd man that how could he allow this position that originally belonged to his nephew to be handed over to the family that would hinder him?
It would be better to give it to this young man who has no background but only courage.
As for whether such a promotion is too extraordinary?
The first merit of rescuing the governor was enough to silence many voices.
Although Wei Yan did not quite understand this exchange of interests, and he also felt that Liu Biao's arrangement was unusual, facing Huo Du's sincere blessing, he still replied: "Yes, it can be regarded as a blessing in disguise."
How can this not be considered a rise that was gained at the cost of one's life?
In this turbulent era, rising to power or death can happen in just one night.
Fortunately, he was lucky enough not to lose his life to lay the foundation for this victory.
But what Wei Yan didn't expect was that his luck apparently didn't stop there.
Shortly after he was sent back to Xiangyang for treatment, he received news that Liu Biao had withdrawn his troops.
"Strike back? Why suddenly..." Why suddenly withdraw troops?
After being provoked by Zhang Jin and even running into the iron wall of the elephant soldiers, there was no way Liu Biao would not fight to the death with Zhang Jin!
Zhang Jin was able to station the elephant soldiers at the foot of Keling Mountain at the right time and launch such a sniper attack on Liu Biao, which was obviously a tough nut to crack.
Wei Yan, relying on his limited combat experience, felt that it would be impossible to end the war within ten days or half a month.
Huo Jun, who had returned to Xiangyang from Quanling, had come to thank Wei Yan for saving his brother's life. When he heard Wei Yan's question, he explained it for him: "Who would have thought that Jiaozhou would take action before us?"
"Jiaozhou? But isn't Zhang Jin the governor of Jiaozhou?" Wei Yan asked curiously.
"Zhang Ziyun is indeed the governor of Jiaozhou, but he is not the only one who has the upper hand in Jiaozhou. This may be called... the mantis stalks the cicada while the oriole is waiting behind." Huo Jun replied, "Okay, you don't have to ask more. In short, you just need to know that the invasion of Jingzhou by Zhang Jin, the governor of Jiaozhou, has been settled."
Although he got an answer, it was obviously not enough to resolve Wei Yan's doubts.
It was not just Wei Yan. Even Zhang Jin, who was in the situation, did not expect that he would experience such a sudden change.
The fact that Liu Biao managed to survive the attack of his elephant soldiers and even defeated his garrison troops at the foot of Keling Mountain was completely beyond Zhang Jin's expectations.
So much so that when the news reached Yingdao County which he had just captured, Zhang Jin almost wanted to turn back to teach Liu Biao a lesson.
But he quickly realized that it was absolutely not appropriate for him to make such a move at this moment.
Zuo Ci even advised him at this time that it would not do him any good to hesitate repeatedly on this day of heavenly punishment and evil.
So instead of returning to Guiyang County to fight against the victorious Liu Biao, it would be better to fight all the way to the county seat of Lingling County and attack Huanglong from another route!
Anyway, his reinforcements heading north from Yulin County will soon arrive.
The troops he lost would soon be replaced.
Thinking of this, Zhang Jin has re-evaluated his future.
But when the team from Jiaozhou came to him, he suddenly found that this was not the rear army that was originally scheduled to support him, but -
Those were the personal soldiers of Shi Xie, the governor of Jiaozhi County!
The other party did not make any attempt to stop his expedition to Jingzhou. At first glance, it seemed that they had already acknowledged his status in Jiaozhou, so they took a wait-and-see attitude towards his choice of position. However, they were actually secretly planning to launch such a fatal attack on him.
Zhang Jin had no idea that Fa Zheng was lobbying behind this. All he saw was that Shi Xie's soldiers rushed to him when he was in urgent need of reinforcements, pulled him out of the occupied Lingling County, and then... handed him over to Liu Biao.
When facing Liu Biao, who looked exhausted but full of fighting spirit, Zhang Jin was finally somewhat comforted by the fact that he could see the surprise on Liu Biao's face.
The general who captured him was also from the Shi family of Jiaozhou. If you want to count his status, he should be considered as Shi Xie's nephew. He saluted to Liu Biao and said, "Shi Taishou asked me to tell Liu Jingzhou that Jiaozhou has long admired the talents of the Grand Marshal and wanted to express its intention to submit to the court in Chang'an, but there was such a governor who couldn't see the situation clearly. Earlier, because he was still in Jiaozhou and it was inconvenient to take action, he was allowed to successfully mobilize troops. Shi Taishou was anxious and could only take advantage of the chaos when he was mobilizing reinforcements to capture him."
"Since the man was captured on Liu Jingzhou's territory, Liu Jingzhou should hand him over to the court. And please convey to the governor Dashi his intention to surrender to him."
Liu Biao felt very uncomfortable after hearing these words.
Being intercepted and defeated by his opponent, Liu Biao could not feel any sense of accomplishment at all. Instead, he felt frustrated as if he had punched in the air.
It just so happened that there was a reason why Shi Xie, the governor of Jiaozhi, who suddenly took action, was able to maintain his wealth and prosperity in Jiaozhou for so many years. He also behaved particularly well in his move of sending troops to Jingzhou to capture Zhang Jin.
If he had directly ordered his subordinates to take Zhang Jin north to Chang'an or Luoyang to present his military achievements, Liu Biao would have challenged him anyway and would have warned and criticized him for entering the country without permission.
But Shi Xie directly had Zhang Jin sent to him, and asked him to send the governor of Jiaozhou who had raised an army to cause rebellion to Chang'an. It was obvious that he wanted to share some of the military merits with him as a token of friendship to him.
Liu Biao obviously knew that one should not hit someone who is smiling in the face.
After returning to Xiangyang in the face of low pressure, Liu Biao quickly adjusted his mood and took two actions.
One was to send Zhang Jin to Chang'an via Wuguan, and let Liu Yu punish the Jiaozhou governor for his actions.
Although all matters concerning marching and fighting had to be decided by the Grand Marshal Qiao Yan, Liu Biao had heard about Qiao Yan's previous trip to Chang'an to plead guilty, and he felt that if he sent Zhang Jin to Luoyang to Qiao Yan, it might not only fail to help her, but would instead cause trouble for her.
After having suffered another loss of manpower in Guiyang County, Liu Biao could not afford such a bad situation.
However, Liu Biao had to give an explanation to Qiao Yan about the war in Jingzhou and the surrender of Shi Xie of Jiaozhou.
So at Kuai Yue's suggestion, Liu Biao did another thing, which was to send the three elephant soldiers brought by Shi Xie from Jiaozhi, along with the seven elephants captured from Zhang Jin, to Luoyang.
Is there anything wrong with giving the weapon of war to Da Sima? Obviously not.
Perhaps this huge guy can be used to carry goods, assist in farming, transport newly naturalized refugees, etc. within Henan Yin’s territory.
In short, this is not a gift given as a tribute to a rare treasure.
The entire process of the battle with the Jiaozhou soldiers was also reported truthfully to Qiao Yan by his subordinates after they arrived in Luoyang.
When Qiao Yan saw these ten elephants outside Luoyang City, he couldn't help but reveal a look of amazement on his face.
From a modern perspective, elephants are indeed not too rare. However, when they appear not in zoos but as combat mounts, they do seem a little strange.
The seven elephants that originally belonged to Zhang Jin's army had been trained by the people of Jiaozhou. After leaving the battlefield, they did not realize that their ownership had changed and showed some docility after being domesticated.
Qiao Yan also subconsciously thought of the animal taming manual that she had traded with the host who had the animal taming system.
After being used earlier to increase livestock production and breed homing pigeons, it seems that it is about to have a new role.
And this function is probably not just to use them as Zhang Jin's generals used them to launch a charge against the opposing cavalry.
She walked around the elephants and had a rough idea in mind.
Perhaps because the serious matter had already come to an end, her rare bad taste came out again.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when talking about elephants, it seems difficult to avoid a story, which is Cao Chong weighing the elephant.
Guo Jia, who was also here to watch the "trophy", suddenly received Qiao Yan's gaze and heard her ask: "Feng Xiao, how much do you think this elephant weighs?":, n,
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