After Gan Ning captured Ye County, Liu Qi ordered Guan Yu and Xu Shu to guard Bowang and personally led troops to reinforce.
The news came that Cao Cao was going to lead the army in person. Ye County would become a meat-grinding ground for fighting against Cao's army. Zhuge Liang also began to deploy his plan. This would be a battle that would determine fate.
Three days later, dust was flying outside Ye County, and Cao's army arrived again. The army of more than 100,000 was mighty and their flags covered the sky.
Liu Qi brought his men to the city wall and saw that the Cao army that came this time had bright armor and neat formation. Compared with Xiahou Dun's troops before, they were more imposing.
Zhuge Liang looked at the battle formation and said, "These must be the Qingzhou soldiers that Cao Cao has recruited. They are Cao's elite troops."
Zhang Fei laughed and said, "You're welcome! I like to fight elite troops!"
Gan Ning asked for orders, "Why not kill them first while their formation is still unstable?"
Zhuge Liang shook his head and said, "This time the Cao army is coming, we are well prepared, with our left and right wings deployed. If we rush out rashly, we will be trapped and suffer more casualties."
Gan Ning snorted slightly, quite dissatisfied with Zhuge Liang, but seeing that Liu Qi did not give any orders, he had to step aside.
This time, Cao's army was indeed very patient. They first set up camp and deployed themselves carefully along the mountain road. Only after everything was ready did a group of troops step forward to challenge each other.
Before the troops got close, Zhang Fei shouted, "It's Cao Ren again! This time I will capture him!"
Liu Qi saw that Zhang Fei was eager to fight, and said with a smile: "Let Yide lead the charge!"
Zhuge Liang said: "If Cao Ren is defeated and retreats, remember not to pursue the enemy, to avoid being tricked."
"Got it!" Zhang Fei didn't want to pay any attention to Zhuge Liang, so he went down the city and put on his armor to fight.
Drums sounded loudly on the city wall, Zhang Fei led his troops out, and the two armies deployed their troops. Cao Ren wanted to avenge his previous humiliation, so he glared at Zhang Fei with fire in his eyes.
This time, Cao Ren was exchanged as a hostage and his official rank was demoted by three levels, but this was secondary. The real pain in his heart was that he was stripped naked and captured by Wei Yan.
Zhang Fei raised his spear and shouted, "Cao Ren, you ungrateful bastard! I treated you to delicious food and wine, but you have no shame at all!"
Cao Ren knew that he was no match for Zhang Fei, so he said in a deep voice: "I won't fight you, tell that red-faced guy to come out!"
Zhang Fei said with a smile: "If you want to fight with my second brother, you must defeat me first."
Cao Ren gnashed his teeth and said, "Call Wei Yan out. I want to fight him to the death!"
Zhang Fei laughed loudly and said, "Hahaha, Cao Zixiao, you care so much about General Wei, don't you want to be captured by him?"
"Zhang Fei, don't go too far!"
At this moment, a man rushed out from Cao's army, raised his knife and attacked Zhang Fei.
"Chang Diao, be careful!" Cao Ren was shocked, but it was too late to stop him.
Zhang Fei sat on his horse and took it easy. He waited for the enemy to rush to him before he raised his snake spear and blocked his sword. He suddenly opened his eyes wide and let out a loud shout!
This shout was like a bolt from the blue, drowning out even the sound of drums. Chang Diao staggered on his horse, bleeding from all seven orifices, and fell off his horse.
Gan Ning exclaimed, "So what this Heizi said is true!"
"What a fierce general!" Zhuge Liang also nodded in praise.
Zhang Fei cleared his throat and waved to Cao Ren, "Come here and let me catch you!"
Although Cao Ren was frightened, he had never suffered such humiliation in front of the two armies. He roared and urged his horse to go forward, and the two men started fighting on the field.
Zhang Fei shouted to the enemy general before he even took action, and the morale of Jingzhou people increased greatly. They all raised their weapons and shouted, and both armies beat drums with all their might, and the sound of drums shook the sky.
The two men fought hard, but there was no clear winner after twenty or thirty rounds. Cao Ren fought to the death, while Zhang Fei became more and more courageous as the battle went on, like a fight between two tigers. The scene was intense.
When Zhang Fei was in Xuzhou and Yuzhou, he was defeated many times by Cao's army and had no place to display his martial arts. Now he can finally get back on his feet and fights with all his might. His snake spear is as swift as the wind and makes a whining sound.
Under the setting sun, war horses galloped back and forth, raising dust, and soldiers on both sides shouted and cheered. The fight was thrilling to watch.
Although Zhang Fei's martial arts were better than Cao Ren's, he was no match for Cao Ren's determination to fight to the death. Cao Ren tried many times to injure both of them. His sword was even more fierce than Zhang Fei's. His sword flew up and down like a roaring dragon.
The arrogant ones are afraid of the stupid ones, and the stupid ones are afraid of the desperate ones!
Cao Ren knew that if he was defeated again he would be too ashamed to face Cao Cao, so he fought to the death with the determination to sacrifice his life, which put Zhang Fei in a panic.
"Are you crazy? Are you crazy?" Zhang Fei scolded and beat him. He almost succeeded several times but was forced to retreat by Cao Ren's desperate fight.
At this moment, the sound of a horn was heard in Cao's camp. Cao Ren was sweating and panting from fighting. Seeing that he could not defeat Zhang Fei, he rode his horse back to his camp.
Zhang Fei was in a killing spree and was about to give chase, but the sound of a gong was heard from the city, and both armies stopped fighting.
Zhang Fei returned to the city and complained: "If I take advantage of the situation and charge in, and the general supports me, we will surely defeat Cao's army!"
"Don't chase after a desperate enemy!" Liu Qi said with a smile, "Cao Ren fought to his death, why should Yide fight him to the death? It won't be too late to fight again tomorrow."
Cao Hong called Cao Ren back and comforted him, saying, "It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge! Ye County is a small city. Tomorrow, the whole army will attack together and it will be destroyed in a snap. I will let Zixiao vent his anger."
Cheng Yu reminded: "Liu Qi knows that Ye County is in trouble and may come to raid the camp. We need to guard against the defeat of General Xiahou."
Cao Hong laughed and said, "With the lessons learned from the past, how can I be unprepared? If Liu Qi dares to come tonight, he will never return."
Han Hao said, "General, you don't know that General Xiahou also expected Liu Qi to come and raid the camp, but he was tricked by Liu Qi, and then Zhang Fei and others rushed to the camp, and no one could stop them, so they were defeated."
Cao Hong nodded and said, "Quality is more important than quantity. Sometimes too many soldiers may lead to chaos. I have a solution."
He first ordered the soldiers to bury the pots and cook, and after dark, he quietly divided the troops into three groups. Behind Cao Ren led the troops to the camp, he hid ambushes on the left and right mountains.
In Ye County, Liu Qi ordered Gan Ning to patrol and guard the city, and all the generals returned to the camp to rest, with no intention of launching a surprise attack or robbing the camp.
Ye County is small and dilapidated, not as good as Bowang. Across the mountains ahead is Kunyang, which is open and wide, and Cao's army can receive continuous reinforcements.
The Central Plains at this time was like a dam, and Ye County was the gate leading to the Nanyang channel. Once it was breached, Cao's army would pour in like a flood, and would be unstoppable.
Liu Qi said: "Although Cao Ren was defeated, his army is powerful. We can only defeat them with our wits, not with our heads. Sir, you should retreat as you advance and dampen the enemy's spirit. How are you going to defend Ye County next?"
Zhuge Liang laughed and said, "Cao's army came here in anger. They were strong at the first attack, weak at the second, and exhausted at the third. Cao Ren was defeated and fled. We can use the strategy of tiring out the troops tonight. Their momentum will surely weaken."
Liu Qi asked: "What's the plan?"
Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "To deal with a frightened bird, you don't need to use an arrow. Once the bowstring sounds, you can just sit back and enjoy the result."
Liu Qi smiled knowingly: "Sir, your advice is brilliant. I will make Cao's army restless tonight!"
After dinner, Liu Qi called Kou Feng and asked him to act according to the plan.
Speaking of it, Kou Feng is a handsome man with good martial arts skills and a smart personality. He is indeed a rare general, otherwise he would not have been adopted as a son by Liu Bei.
It’s a pity that fate played a trick on him. The adopted son was not as good as Liu Chan’s biological son and eventually died in the political struggle.
Changing one's surname to one's adoptive father seemed like a quick way to success, but it actually became a death warrant!