The Han army retreated, Xiahou Yuan withdrew his troops and returned to the camp. He saw Xun You waiting at the camp gate and said, "I was about to kill the old general, why did the military advisor sound the horn?"
Xun You said: "Huang Zhong did not show any signs of defeat, but he suddenly retreated. I am afraid there must be something fishy going on."
Xiahou Yuan laughed and said, "Although Huang Zhong has some skills, he is old and weak after all. If we fight for another ten rounds, I will chop this old man off."
Xiahou Shang was also filled with indignation, and cursed: "All of Liu Qi's subordinates are only good at taking shortcuts, and they are no match for me in a head-on fight."
Xun You pondered and said, "If Huang Zhong is not pretending to be defeated, but is just here to fight and show off his prowess, why not use him, General?"
Xiahou Yuan asked: "What's the plan?"
Xun You said: "Today, the victory or defeat is still unknown. Tomorrow, the general will challenge us, but we can feign defeat to lure the enemy and kill the enemy general."
Xiahou Yuan frowned and said, "I'm afraid he won't fall for it."
Xun You smiled and said, "Although Liu Qi's army has the advantage of being on the top of the mountain, once they charge, the troops will flow down the slope and it will be difficult to stop them. We only need to lure Huang Zhong out. Even if Liu Qi withdraws his troops, it will be too late."
Xiahou Shang laughed and said, "Military Advisor, this is a brilliant plan. It's time for us to take revenge!"
Before this, Xiahou Yuan had also gone to challenge the enemy camp many times, but Yan Yan held his ground and refused to come out. Xiahou Yuan attacked the stronghold by force, but Yan Yan was located halfway up the mountain, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. The stalemate lasted for more than a month.
At this time, an old general came and sneered, "Liu Qi sent Zhang He to attack Qishan and divided Zhao Yun's troops to attack Chencang Road, but he only brought old soldiers to fight me. It is clear that he does not take us seriously. I will kill these two old thieves with long beards."
The next morning, uncle and nephew Xiahou Yuan personally went up the mountain to challenge the enemy, and only called upon the two old thieves Huang Zhong and Yan Yan.
Huang Zhong was furious upon hearing the news and was about to leave the camp to fight. Fa Zheng said, "Xiahou Yuan hasn't arrived for half a month. He suddenly came today. I'm afraid he has a trick. We need to be careful."
Liu Qi warned: "When you send out troops, remember to follow orders and don't act rashly."
Meng Da clasped his fists and said, "I failed to kill Xiahou Shang yesterday, so today I will make sure he never returns. I will take the lead!"
Meng Da and Fa Zheng were good friends. They both fled to Yizhou to avoid the chaos. Now that Fa Zheng was valued, Meng Da was eager to make achievements and show his abilities.
Liu Qi knew what he was thinking, so he ordered Meng Da to be the vanguard, followed by Huang Zhong, and Yan Yan and other generals to raid the front of the camp and observe the situation.
Meng Da went out of the camp and formed a battle line. He pointed at Xiahou Shang and shouted, "Xiahou's spoiled son, come and die."
Xiahou Shang was furious and urged his horse to fight Meng Da. After fighting for more than ten rounds, he could no longer hold out and pretended to be defeated and ran away.
"Where are you going!" Meng Da was excited when he saw all the generals watching the battle. He shouted and urged his horse to chase after them.
"Zi Du cannot be chased, come back quickly!" Fa Zheng called out hurriedly.
Liu Qi ordered the sounding of the horn, but Meng Da had already rushed down the hillside on his horse. He could not stop his horse on the slope and in a blink of an eye he was at the bottom of the hill. Xiahou Yuan had been waiting for a long time and rode his horse to meet him.
Fa Zheng exclaimed: "Oh no, I've fallen into a trap!"
Meng Da wanted to stop, but he could no longer hold on due to the momentum of his horse, so he had no choice but to fight Xiahou Yuan.
The two men rode their war horses at full speed. Xiahou Yuan was ready to go. He urged his horse to move forward, exerted his might, raised his sword and slashed. In just one move, he killed Meng Da from his horse.
"The bastard is cheating!" Liu Qi also came to his senses at this time and shouted, "Beat the drums, attack!"
Since Cao's army could not use the slope to lure the enemy, they simply took advantage of the situation and rushed down the slope to break through the enemy's formation.
Being in a commanding position and being unstoppable, this was Ma Su's brilliant plan, and it came in handy at this moment!
Boom boom boom—
The sound of deafening drums rang out, Huang Zhong took the lead, leaped down on his horse, followed closely by Yan Yan. All the generals led their troops, and the Han army poured forward like a mountain torrent, unstoppable.
Xiahou Yuan was laughing loudly towards the sky when he saw the entire enemy army coming out with terrifying momentum. He was unable to resist at the foot of the hill, so he quickly ordered the entire army to retreat.
Huang Zhong rushed to the front with his hair and beard flying. Seeing Cao's army retreating, he hung up his sword, took out his bow and arrow, aimed at Xiahou Yuan and shot three arrows in a row.
Xiahou Yuan was also an expert in archery. He walked and observed, and when he saw Huang Zhong shooting arrows, he was prepared. He urged his horse to gallop left and right among the chaotic army, and only shot down two Cao soldiers.
Unexpectedly, the last arrow was aimed at Xiahou Shang. He shouted hurriedly, but it was too late. He was hit in the back by the arrow. He screamed and was about to fall off his horse.
Xiahou Yuan was quick-witted and quick-handed. He urged his horse over and picked up Xiahou Shang on the horse. The Han army chased all the way to the camp gate, but Xun You had already divided his troops to guard it.
There was a fierce battle between the two armies, with casualties on both sides. Huang Zhong saw that Cao's camp was neatly arranged and there was no opportunity to attack, so he had to lead his troops to retreat.
Meng Da was killed in this battle. Fa Zheng was sad. After all, they were good friends who had shared hardships. He regretted and said, "It's my fault that I didn't pay attention at the time and let Zidu fall into the trap."
Liu Qi consoled him, "Even a wise man can make mistakes. Sir, you don't have to be too sad. General Meng died for his country and will be compensated. If you raise his children, it will also comfort your old friend's spirit in heaven."
In fact, for a treacherous villain like Meng Da, his death would avoid a disaster. Liu Qi was secretly happy, but he also scolded himself for being a mean person. After all, Meng Da is now his subordinate!
Fa Zheng's eyes turned red, and he gritted his teeth and said, "This must be Xun You's plan. I swear to avenge this."
Liu Qi knew that Fa Zheng was a vindictive person, so he comforted him for a while and let him rest temporarily while he looked for other strategies to deal with the enemy.
He ordered his men to bury Meng Da with great honor in the Western Hills. The defeat in the first battle also made him stop being arrogant. Previously, with the help of Fa Zheng, Pang Tong and others, he was able to deal with the enemy with ease. But this time his opponent was Xun You, also a top strategist in the Three Kingdoms, so he needed to be more careful in the battle of wits and courage.
The reason why he urged his troops to attack just now was not only to take advantage of the geographical advantage to save the situation, but also to take advantage of the situation to inspire Huang Zhong to kill Xiahou Yuan. Unfortunately, Xiahou Yuan ran too fast and the condition was not met.
Recalling the battle of Dingjun Mountain, Huang Zhong fell from the mountain because Xiahou Yuan underestimated the enemy and was negligent. Now with Xun You as the military advisor, reminding him all the time, this makes things a bit difficult.
If Xun You could be transferred away, dealing with Xiahou Yuan would be a piece of cake.
At this time, Guan Yu had already entered Yuzhou and captured Yingchuan. The Xun family had no worries, and it was time to show the trump card of Xun Yu!
Xiahou Yuan returned to the camp after a great victory. He ordered the doctor to treat Xiahou Shang's injuries and rewarded the rest of the soldiers to celebrate the victory, sweeping away the previous dejection, boosting morale and preparing for a counterattack.
Xun You said: "Liu Qi has Fa Zheng as his military advisor. He is very good at making strange plans. A small victory is not enough to counterattack. We must be on guard against his other tricks."
Xiahou Yuan sneered: "Huang Zhong and Yan Yan were both defeated by me, what can Liu Qi do?"
Xun You said, "There are two valleys behind Jigu. Xiegu leads to Wuzhangyuan, and there is also Taibai Trail leading to Chencang. Now Zhao Yun has reached Sanguan and has no news. We must guard this place."
Xiahou Yuan said: "It is better to be prepared, the military advisor can make the arrangements."
Xun You said: "The terrain in this valley is dangerous. We can send an army to ambush at a dangerous place in the valley. If the enemy army comes, we can ambush them with more than half of them, so that they can't return."
"Great plan!" Xiahou Yuan nodded happily and ordered his second son Xiahou Wei to lead 3,000 elite soldiers to set up an ambush in Taibai Valley.
Xiahou Wei was accompanying the army for training this time, originally only as a guard for the chief clerk, but he had been guarding the fortress before, and had lost several generals including Xiahou De, so there was a shortage of manpower, so he had to be asked to lead the troops in advance.