When Changqi saw the enemy approaching, he hurriedly gathered his soldiers to form a battle formation. As the men and horses prepared in haste, the cavalry had already arrived.
I saw a young general riding a horse and holding a spear, shouting: "Kou Feng is here, the thief will die."
"Hmph, you little brat is so arrogant!" Chang Qi saw that it was only a young man who came, so he didn't take it seriously and raised his knife to meet the man.
There was a loud bang, and the arm shook, the big knife was unexpectedly knocked away, and the gun stabbed towards the chest. Chang Qi was shocked and quickly turned around to dodge.
The two horses crossed each other, and the opponent fired a spear at him. Chang Qi raised his knife to block it. When he turned his horse back, Kou Feng had already charged into the chaotic army with his spear.
Changqi was furious and circled his horses to chase after them. At this moment, another ambush came from the flank on the shore. Before the front army arrived, arrows fell from the sky like locusts.
The Hanzhong soldiers were fighting hastily and had no time to react. They were shot by arrows from the side and fell to the ground one after another, with their formation in complete chaos.
It was Liu Xian who was lying in ambush on the shore. He led his troops to take advantage of the situation and attacked from both sides together with Kou Feng. They rushed straight to the river bank and killed the enemy, forcing them to flee in all directions.
The Hanzhong soldiers were attacked in two places, and with the Bao River on the right, they could only flee along the road they came and went. Many people were forced to jump into the river, resulting in countless casualties.
Before Chang Qi could catch up with Kou Feng, his men and horses had been scattered, and countless soldiers around him were killed or wounded. He was extremely shocked and angry, and had no choice but to grit his teeth and break through.
When Kou Feng saw Liu Xian coming and the enemy army was in chaos, he stopped chasing the deserters and turned around to fight with Chang Qi again.
At this time, Chang Qi was already in a panic, and he was no match for Kou Feng. He barely managed to hold out for five rounds. Just as he was about to beg for mercy, he was stabbed and fell off his horse.
This was also Kou Feng's first time beheading a general. He roared to the sky, shook off the blood on the tip of his spear, and sneered, "I'm about to use my sword to cut you, and you still want to beg for mercy?"
At this time, the Hanzhong soldiers had already fled. Liu Xian came with a man, who was the chief priest of Baozhong, and was shaking with fear.
Kou Fengyan said: "Although the ambush failed, we did kill the enemy general, but I'm not satisfied yet."
Liu Xian looked at the corpse on the ground and laughed, "How can we not be defeated if we use troops like this?"
During the more than one year in Xiangyang, Liu Xian followed the Crouching Dragon and the Phoenix and made a lot of progress. It was he who offered the idea to Chen Dao to ambush the reinforcements along the way.
The two men had just ambushed in the woods at the intersection ahead, but they didn't expect that the reinforcements had arrived at the riverbank and had dismounted to rest. They then temporarily changed their plan and attacked in two directions, and indeed won a great victory.
The two men brought Baozhong Jijiu to the foot of the city and ordered him to knock on the gate. When the defending general saw that Jijiu had surrendered and the reinforcements had been killed and repelled, he had no choice but to open the city and surrender.
Baozhong Jijiu begged for mercy, saying, "Since I have made great contributions in surrendering the city, can you please return my property to me?"
Chen Dao sneered, "Baozhong thought he was in my pocket, why would he need your help? I am already showing you great mercy by sparing your life."
Baozhong Jijiu was so disheartened that he sat on the ground and said in a trembling voice, "I only want to save my family's lives."
Chen Daoyan said: "Don't worry about this. General Liu is kind and merciful. We have already issued an order that those who surrender will not be killed, and we will not kill innocent people indiscriminately."
Liu Xian suddenly smiled and said, "If you can really make a contribution, General Liu will definitely reward you handsomely. It depends on whether you can seize the opportunity."
Baozhong Jijiu hurriedly asked: "General, please explain!"
Liu Xianyan said, "Do you know the magistrate of Mianyang County? If you can persuade him to surrender, it will be a great achievement, and it will also prevent the Mianyang side from resorting to war and hurting innocent people. On the one hand, you can save the people and honor the gods, and on the other hand, you can make merit and receive rewards. Isn't it killing two birds with one stone?"
Hearing this, Baozhong Jijiu nodded repeatedly and said, "Don't worry, General. Brother Liu Dao and I have known each other for a long time. As long as we explain the pros and cons, we will be able to persuade him to surrender."
Chen Dao was overjoyed, and immediately asked Baozhong Jijiu to write a letter, ordering Kou Feng and Liu Xian to lead 2,000 troops to take Mianyang. He also sent someone to inform Liu Qi, asking him to send troops to garrison the city as soon as possible.
Before it got dark, the reinforcements fled back to the city. Yang Ren heard the news and hurriedly reported it to Zhang Lu.
Zhang Lu panicked and asked anxiously, "Where are the reinforcements?"
Yang Ren shook his head and said, "Since the scouts were sent out the day before yesterday, there has been no reply."
Yan Pu looked solemn: "If Baozhong is lost, if Liu Qi divides his troops to take Mianyang, General Zhang will be unable to provide support, and Nanzheng will be isolated."
"At this point, what good plan is there?" Zhang Lu's heart sank to the bottom. The reinforcements were slow in arriving, the defenders were no match for the enemy, and there was no hope at all.
Yan Pu said: "There are only three strategies at the moment: the best strategy is to withdraw in time and retreat to Bazhong. General Zhang still has 30,000 elite soldiers. If he can get help from the barbarians and take advantage of the mountainous terrain, he can fight Liu Qi."
Zhang Lu frowned and said, "I have been preaching in Hanzhong for decades, and there are tens of thousands of disciples here. How can I abandon my only child? Moreover, this is our foundation. Once we lose it, we will be like a rootless duckweed, and it will be difficult for us to find a place to settle down!"
Yan Pu said, "The middle strategy is to order Zhang Song to leave the city and meet Liu Qi to see if there is room for peace talks. If Liu Qi is willing to make peace, you can use his money, food, troops and horses to seize Xichuan. If Liu Qi can take Yizhou, you may spare Hanzhong."
Zhang Lu sighed, "Liu Qi is determined to take Hanzhong this time. I'm afraid he won't be willing to make peace with the current situation!"
Yang Ren asked, "What's the next step?"
"Surrender!" Yan Pu said helplessly, "Save my family and the people in the city."
The three of them were silent for a while. After a while, Zhang Lu said, "First, order Yang Song to go out of the city to meet Liu Qi and see how he responds before making a decision."
"That's good!" Yan Pu nodded and reminded: "Mianyang is very important, Master should send an army to support it."
Zhang Lu said: "If we send more reinforcements, we may be ambushed again! Liu Jijiu is my confidant, so there is no need to worry."
He then ordered Yang Ren to continue defending the city, Yan Pu to appease the people in the city, and Zhang Lu to personally meet Yang Song and ask him to go out of the city to negotiate with Liu Qi. Even if it was delayed for a day or two, they could wait for reinforcements to arrive.
Although Yang Song was injured, it was he who came up with the strategy of making friends with Liu Qi. Now the enemy was at the gates of the city and Nanzheng was in danger. Whether for Hanzhong or for self-protection, he had to leave the city to see Liu Qi.
When he arrived at the central army tent, he bowed with one arm tied and said, "I am injured, so I am sorry that I cannot perform the full ceremony."
Liu Qi ordered someone to look after the seat and said with a smile, "Sir, you didn't go into battle, how could you be injured?"
"Shame on you!" Yang Song smiled awkwardly, and asked with a stiff face: "I went to Xiangyang before, made friends with the general, and agreed to take Xichuan together. Since the two families have already formed an alliance, why are they fighting each other again and want to kill my master?"
"Why do you say that, sir?" Liu Qi said with a smile, "I came here to take Yizhou, but was stopped by Zhang Lu. You were the first to use force, and Yang Bai led his troops to attack. How can I not resist?"
"Ah, this?" Yang Song was surprised and said, "Hanzhong belongs to my lord. When the general invaded, we were just on guard. Why would we start fighting first?"
Liu Qi sneered, "Isn't this Hanzhong land owned by the court? As far as I know, the governor of Hanzhong was Su Gu, but Zhang Lu attacked and occupied it, and then privately changed it to Hanning County, destroyed government offices, pretended to be a ghost, and established his own territory. How is he different from the Yellow Turban bandit Zhang Jiao? I followed the imperial edict to suppress the rebellion and support the court. I didn't ask about your crimes. This is already a mercy outside the law. You dare to send troops to intercept you. How is it different from treason?"
Yang Song's face changed drastically, and he waved his hands and said, "Master loves the people like his own children, and has protected Hanzhong for decades. The people praise him, and he has no intention of rebellion. He is definitely not Zhang Jiao's kind. Please be careful, General!"
Liu Qi smiled faintly and said, "Even so, I am a relative of the Han Dynasty. It is reasonable for me to walk around in my own territory, right?"