Li Hanzhi next to him looked at him strangely again, and thought to himself, this guy is too insidious, it is better not to provoke him. After realizing this, he felt relieved.
It has been said since ancient times that a clay pot is bound to fall into a well and a general is bound to die in the battle. I was just defeated once, which is nothing big. Thinking of this, Li Hanzhi's resentment towards Han Zhi was reduced a lot.
Zhu Li frowned slightly at Han Zhi's suggestion, but after a moment's thought, he decided, "Okay, let's do it. Han Zhi, Zaixing, and I will lead the army to attack. Han Zhi, Chen Gong, Li Kan, and Shen Ji, the four of you will be responsible for creating momentum. We will attack at 3:30 am tomorrow morning."
"Yes," everyone responded immediately and left to prepare.
The April night was damp and crisp.
Along the Yellow River, the three camps of Zhu Li, Li Dan and Liu Zhijun were thirty or forty miles apart from each other, forming a triangle bathed in the night.
Just after the hour of Chou, a wave of soldiers rushed out of Xu Weijun’s camp, roughly estimated to be more than 10,000 people.
This group of men and horses, all with their horses biting their bridles and the men running silently, ran out of the camp at a very fast speed and headed towards the direction of the Cao army camp.
Just behind this group of people, another 10,000 people hurried out. These people were very strange. Not to mention those who rode horses and carried flags; there were also people who rode donkeys and oxen and carried flags, which was still acceptable; what was even more unbearable was that a few short guards actually rode on rams the size of calves. No one knew where they got them from, and it looked very out of place.
However, these people were all the same. They all carried large flags. If their mounts could not support the force anymore, they would jump off and tiptoe behind the group.
Only 6,000 guards were left in the entire Xu Weijun camp, led by the surrendered general Yang Shihou, to prevent any accidents.
The night is the best cover. With three forces working together, no one would move rashly. Li Dan did not seem to worry about someone attacking at night, so he fell asleep without fear.
Unfortunately, as the Art of War says, "A general cannot be controlled by heaven above, by the earth below, or by people in the middle..." If one is restricted by existing assumptions, why bother being a general
When a general attacks, he can take advantage of the situation, but cannot rely on it. To strike the enemy when they are unprepared is an opportunity to fight, and to strike the enemy when they are confident is a surprise attack. Li Dan believed that if no one dared to move, that would be the best time for others to attack.
When they were still one or two miles away from the target, just when the sentry on the arrow tower of the Cao army's stronghold was in confusion, Zhu Li and others rushed forward brazenly and suddenly tore off their disguise.
Nearly ten thousand people galloped on their horses, the earth and the sky trembled, and it was like the aftermath of a huge earthquake, rushing towards the Cao army’s camp.
Zhu Li's troops gathered all the elite Yue cavalry from the Yuancao Army and the Ganhua Army, a total of more than 9,000 people, who launched the attack together. Their momentum was extremely strong and awe-inspiring.
Now in the Central Plains region, it can be said that except for Li Keyong, even the local emperor Zhu Wen could not afford to deploy so many cavalry. That was the number of war horses accumulated for several years by the warlike Li Hanzhi and the corrupt official Chen.
Zhu Li took the lead and charged forward with spear in hand. Yang Zaixing and Li Hanzhi followed closely on horseback. How could Li Dan's army of nearly 20,000 men not notice such a big commotion
The Cao Army camp immediately became chaotic. Countless torches were lit one after another, and countless guards rushed out of the tents. With the sound of "dang, dang, dang...", even the Cao Army guards who did not have time to dress neatly, rushed out of the tents.
The Cao army guards, whose armor was in disarray, had just run out of the tent when they saw a general with a ghost mask and a spear raised to the sky, as fierce as a demon king. He swung it twice and "cracked".
", "With two loud crashes, the arrow tower was smashed down with incredible force, stirring up countless broken wood and debris.
Amidst the flying of broken wood and debris, two generals were seen rushing out. One had a face like a lion or tiger, and was as fierce as Zhang Fei; the other had a shiny bald head and was as ferocious as E'lai.
The two men, one stabbed with a spear, and the other one thrust with a big stick. With two sounds of "bang", the heavy gate was pierced in an instant. The two men's faces rose slightly, and they lifted it with all their strength. The gate weighing seven or eight hundred pounds suddenly flew into the air, and also pulled down a piece of fence on both sides.
"boom"
"Squeak, plop"
A series of explosions were heard, and the gate fell to the side, stirring up a cloud of dust. The fence was also destroyed, and countless enemy horses rushed in through the gap.
"Kill him! Capture Li Dan alive and you will be promoted three levels."
"Charge! Kill five enemies and you will get 100 taels of silver."
... ... .
This fierce scene made countless Cao army guards who hurriedly ran out of the tent stare with their eyes wide open and chilled to the bone.
Are these guys even human? Many Cao army guards were almost scared to death before they even charged forward. However, military orders were hard to disobey. At this time, Li Dan had already walked out of the camp and hurriedly gave orders, urging the guards to go and stop the enemy.
Li Dan's face looked very ugly. He had never expected to be attacked suddenly.
The enemy attacked his camp at night. Could they be so bold as to attack him? Didn't they know that there were nearly 20,000 guards here
In addition, he was personally in charge, and it was simply a pipe dream for them to attack without several times the number of troops. He really didn't know if the other party was crazy, Li Dan thought angrily.
An endless stream of Cao army guards rushed forward desperately, and the two waves collided with each other in an instant. It was like two huge waves coming from different directions, slamming together violently. In just a moment, countless bodies were thrown into the air, blood splattered, and the sounds of shouting and wailing were intertwined and continuous, shaking the sky and shocking the roar of the Yellow River.
In Li Dan's eyes, the three leaders of the enemy were simply evil spirits from hell. The first one swung his spear, sweeping across a large area, and countless figures were thrown into the air. As long as the Cao army guards encountered that man, they would either die or fly away, without any surprise.
If there hadn't been a steady stream of follow-up guards to fill the gap in time, I'm afraid that man would have rushed over long ago.
The other person stabbed with his spear like rain, transforming into cold stars all over the sky and leaving countless blood flowers.
And that bald guy, hmm, why does he look familiar? Damn, isn’t that Li Hanzhi? How did this bastard run to the enemy camp? Could it be, could it be that this guy defected to the Xuzhou army? As soon as the thought came to Li Dan’s mind, his hands and feet went cold
Not long ago, he received the news that Li Hanzhi's camp was broken. He was happy about this for a long time. It was because Li Hanzhi had always been so arrogant and showed off his power in front of him, making him unable to raise his head. Now that he finally fell, how could he not be secretly happy
But now, when he saw the other party mixed in the enemy camp and rushing towards him, he could no longer be happy.
The moment he saw Li Hanzhi, Li Dan cursed all of Li Hanzhi's ancestors in his heart. That bastard could turn Li Hanzhi into a pile of meat paste with just one blow of the iron rod. He was definitely the bloodiest butcher, and the sight of him made people shudder.
When they were comrades-in-arms, Li Dan did not think Li Hanzhi was so terrifying. It was only when they suddenly became enemies that he personally experienced the terror of the other party.
Even though the fighting was so fierce, Li Dan still urged the guards to keep charging forward. This was his camp, with plenty of soldiers and horses. If the enemy wanted to break through his camp by force, they would be invincible.
Different from daydreaming.
But at this moment, in the night, countless shouts suddenly broke out from the north and south, which immediately made Li Dan's face turn miserable. Vaguely, he could see countless large flags erected on both sides of the south and the north, with the flags fluttering and the earth shaking constantly. This was definitely the effect caused by thousands of horses galloping.
In the darkness, there were countless shouts of killing, rolling in: "Kill! Capture Li Dan alive and promote him to a general."
"Go ahead, behead Li Dan and be promoted three levels."
... ...
Endless flags swept towards the Cao army’s stronghold like surging waves, and the shouts of killing like a surging tide rose one after another, which made people tremble with fear when they saw it and gave people chills when they heard it.
How many elite cavalrymen would be needed to create such a momentum? How could so many cavalrymen appear in Xuzhou? No, it is absolutely impossible. Li Dan's face turned purple with fright.
Intellectually, he would never believe that this was true, but at this moment, did he dare to gamble
What if it is true? The more than 10,000 Yue cavalry coming from the east are real elite troops. What if the night attack from the north and south is also true
He couldn't afford the risk, so he chickened out.
At this moment, all the loyalty and eternal allegiance to His Majesty King Huang, go to hell. In Li Dan's heart, the sky is big, the earth is big, and life is the most important. Once the thought arises, it is like a wildfire that burns more and more vigorously.
"Your Majesty King Huang, it's not that we are unwilling to die. The enemy is too powerful and we cannot win. Brothers, retreat." Li Dan suddenly cried out in grief, as if he was finding an excuse for himself. Before he finished speaking, he suddenly turned around and fled westward first.
Li Dan fled. The Cao army, which had been so high in morale just now, and the guards who had fought desperately to stop Zhu Li and others, looked back and wondered what was going on. Why were so many brothers running westward? Did you see that Liu Ergou, who was not even wearing pants, also ran away. The way he was running, with his little butt twisting, looked so damn joyful.
In great shock, these guards who had fought desperately to block the attack no longer had the will to fight and turned around and ran away.
A thousand-mile long dike is destroyed by an ant hole; one general flees and the entire army is routed. The ancients were right.
As Li Dan fled, there were no Cao army guards left to stop the charge of Zhu Li and others.
The entire Cao army was like the Yellow River that had suddenly burst its dam. All of them fled in panic, with their heads in their hands. Everyone ran as fast as they could, wishing that their parents had not given them a third leg.
The purpose of defeating Li Dan was not to annihilate Cao's army, but to sweep it out of Xuzhou, thereby confiscating Cao's troops, horses, food and grass, and strengthening oneself.
When Zhu Li saw the Cao army was defeated, he quickly signaled Yang Zaixing and Li Hanzhi to divide their forces to collect the surrendered troops, and shouted, "Li Dan has escaped, and those who surrender will not be killed."
Upon hearing this, Yang Zaixing and Li Hanzhi immediately understood what was going on. They also led a group of Yue cavalrymen and rode their horses to collect the surrendered soldiers while shouting, "Li Dan has escaped. Those who surrender will not be killed."
The general shouted, and countless Yue cavalry followed suit: "Li Dan has escaped, those who surrender will not be killed."
"Li Dan has escaped. Those who surrender will not be killed."
... ...
The voices calling for surrender were getting louder and louder, and soon they filled the night sky. Upon receiving the news of Li Dan's defeat, Han Xin and others immediately led their troops out to capture and round up the defeated soldiers and take prisoners.
Most of the Cao army were not dressed neatly due to the hasty battle, let alone riding horses. After all, two legs cannot outrun four legs. Not to mention the fake cavalry of Han Xin and others, the troops led by Zhu Li were genuine elite Yue cavalry, and they immediately divided into three waves to pursue and capture the surrendered.