Chapter 33 Great Victory in Pengcheng

In October of the third year of Jian'an (AD 198), Cao Cao joined forces with Xiahou Dun's troops, Liu Bei and Yanzhou's tribes, and crossed the border of Xuzhou to attack Lu Bu. Lu Bu was actually prepared for Cao Cao's "aggression" this time.As early as when he was attacking Xiaopei, he discussed in detail with Chen Gong and others, and still followed the original strategy of the Battle of Puyang, waiting for Laolong City to fight at ease.The difference is that now Lu Bu's territory is larger, and he no longer only uses Xiapi City, his base camp, as his base.Instead, he and Chen Gong guarded Xiapi, and assembled Gao Shun, Wei Xu, Cheng Lian and other troops in Pengcheng at the west end of Xuzhou with their troops, intending to keep Cao Jun out of Xuzhou.

The two armies of Cao and Lu fought in various formations west of Pengcheng.What is particularly interesting is that the formations of the two sides this time are almost the same as those in the Battle of Puyang back then. Cao Cao still divided the army into four teams in the wilderness, and he commanded the troops of the direct descendants of the Pei Kingdom and Cao Chun's tiger and leopard cavalry to line up; the left wing was the Yanzhou army led by Cheng Yu, Li Dian, and Lu Qian; It was Xia Houdun's troops temporarily led by Xia Houyuan, Han Hao, Liu Ruo, and Liu Bei's remnants; and at the front were the elite cavalry led by Yu Jin, Le Jin, Zhu Ling, and Xu Huang.The front army resisted the enemy's front, the left and right wings outflanked, and the Chinese army followed up. Their style of play is obvious.

But Lu Bu was in a lot of trouble.Although their total strength is on par with Cao Cao's, they belong to various factions, but belong to the military alliance of Lu Bu.After repeated negotiations, a sharp knife formation was finally formed.The blade is the camp led by Gao Shun and Wei Xu, followed by other Bingzhou troops led by Governor Cheng Lian and Hanoi soldiers led by Governor Cao Xing; at the end are the Shanyang prefect Mao Hui and Dongping prefect Xu Xu who followed Lu Bu's rebellion in the past. The Yanzhou rebel army led by Xi, as well as the Danyang soldiers led by Xu Dan and the Xuzhou native soldiers, are also considered as Lu Bu's direct-controlled troops.Unexpectedly, Chen Deng, the governor of Guangling, took the initiative to invite Ying, and was willing to lead 5,000 Guangling soldiers as the second main force, separated between the two direct lineages of Lu Bu!

As for the powerful cavalry captain Zang Ba, as well as the soldiers and horses of the small separatist regimes such as the Sun Guan brothers, Wu Dun, Yin Li, and Chang Ba, they were organized by Zhang Liao, and a semicircle was loosely arranged in the south or north behind the sharp knife formation. .They were not Lv Bu's cronies, and they had conflicts with Lv Bu because of privately attacking and killing Langxie Prime Minister Xiao Jian, so they would not wholeheartedly work for them.But Cao Cao represents the imperial court, and once he belongs to the imperial court, it means losing his own armed forces. Relatively speaking, Lu Bu condoned them to engage in separatist regimes, and supporting Lu Bu himself can go a long way.So these people don't plan to take the lead in the battle, but they will help Gao Shun to drive Cao Jun out of Xuzhou when the two armies are in a difficult situation.

The evenly matched armies and horses of the two sides had lined up since mid-morning, and the flags covered the sun like a forest of swords and guns. However, Cao Cao, who was the invading party, was still unable to send orders to attack.He knew very well in his heart that the troops brought from Xudu were tired soldiers, Xiahoudun's team had been defeated and they were cowardly soldiers, and the teams assembled from all over Yanzhou were scattered soldiers. It won't work if you do it.Cao Cao hoped that Chen Deng would take some action at this time. As long as the Guangling soldiers made a fuss, the opponent's formation would definitely be disrupted, so that he could take advantage of the fire to loot.Thinking about this, Cao Cao ordered to beat the army drums hard but did not march. He wanted to give Chen Deng a signal, but whether it was because Chen Deng didn't understand or for other reasons, the enemy's formation was never in the slightest chaos.

It's fine for Cao Cao not to move, but Gao Shun, who is the commander-in-chief on Lu Bu's side, also fell into deep thinking.It wasn't that he realized that Chen Deng had a problem, but that he was concerned about the people around him.It turned out that after the Lu Bu Group arrived in Xuzhou, a rebellion broke out. The rebellion was caused by Hao Meng, the commander of the Hanoi army.Hao Meng was originally Zhang Yang's subordinate. When Lu Bu lived in Zhang Yang's place, Zhang Yang assigned him to Lu Bu to dispatch.Lv Bu's attempt to plot Yanzhou failed and he was expelled to Xuzhou by Cao Cao, but Hao Meng wanted to bring his troops back to his hometown in Hanoi, so he led his troops to surround Lv Bu's mansion at night, intending to kill the lord and return to the west.Fortunately, Lu Bu heard the shouts of killing in the house, got up from the bed, and fled to the barracks through the back door with his chest bare and his back exposed.Hao Meng's sneak attack failed and was killed by his deputy Cao Xing. Since then, the Hanoi soldiers have been under the command of Cao Xing.However, Gao Shun and Hao Meng had a good friendship, Lu Bu became suspicious again, deprived Gao Shun of his military power, and handed over to another confidant, Wei Xu, to command.Wei Xu was not good at attacking and fighting. Whenever there was a battle, the camp was still under the command of Gao Shun, and Wei Xu was still leading the battle after the battle.In the long run, Gao Shun, Cao Xing, and Wei Xu had conflicts.

Gao Shun has always had doubts, today's battle is imminent, can Wei Xu and Cao Ning help him wholeheartedly?And the men and horses in the back also have different intentions. If Wei Xu and Cao Xing don't work hard, the army will collapse immediately if they are unable to charge.He thought about it again and again, after all, his side was being invaded, as long as he could resist the enemy, he would be considered a victory.So Gao Shun didn't order to charge. Hearing Cao Jun's drum beating, he also sent an order to beat the drum to cheer. On the murderous battlefield, the echoing drums sounded like ten thousand horses galloping, and even the ground was shaken.The two sides lined up densely with swords, guns, swords and halberds. The soldiers dared not relax in the slightest against the enemy, but no one wanted to provoke themselves. The eerie confrontation scene lasted for nearly half an hour!

Cao Cao anxiously stood under the banner of the big flag, looking at the opposing camp, thinking incessantly in his mind.If there is a temporary change and Chen Deng does not respond, how will this battle be fought?The opponent's fighting power is strong, but the hearts of the people are not in harmony; it is not a problem for one's own side to work together, but the fighting power is far inferior to the enemy.If he fought head-to-head, both sides would suffer. Even if he could defeat Gao Shun, his vitality would be greatly weakened. Not to mention turning around to fight Yuan Shao, even entering Xiapi would be a problem.He couldn't figure it out after thinking about it, and sweat was already dripping from his forehead.

At this moment, suddenly there was a commotion in the south of the formation, and a soldier came galloping while dodging.The immediate general has a helmet and armor, a parrot green battle robe; a red face, crouching silkworm eyebrows, Danfeng eyes, and five long beards floating on his chest; holding the Qinglongyanyue knife in his hand-it is Guan Yunchang! "Stop!" A tiger and leopard riding across the eucalyptus hastily stopped, "How can the commander intrude in this formation?" Guan Yu stopped moving forward with a group of horses, and suddenly shouted to Cao Cao: "Why didn't you send the order? The two armies meet and the brave will win. If you don't fight now, when will you wait!"

The shout made Cao Cao's heart twitch.Gritting his teeth and being cruel, he drew out his green sword and sent an order: "The former army strikes!" The front army is attacking... The front army is attacking... The front army is attacking... The herald shouted one after another.Guan Yu swung the broadsword in his palm, but instead of returning to the right army, he went forward to help the battle. On the opposite side, Gao Shun stood at the forefront of the team, holding the reins tightly, watching Cao Jun's every move with bated breath.All of a sudden, the standing army suddenly shouted: "Kill..." Thousands of cavalry rushed over like a tide. "Good time!" Gao Shun raised a spear with his right hand, and put the two fingers of his left hand into the mouth.There was only a sharp whistle in the earlobe, and the cavalrymen of the trapped camp had already put their bows in their hands.The densely packed arrows shot away like locusts, and the charging Cao Jun fell off the horse, dialed, and evaded.Gao Shun seized the opportunity and blew his whistle again, and the soldiers trapped in the camp were like arrows leaving the string, urging their horses to charge directly at Cao Jun.

The so-called trapped camp actually only has 700 people.The cavalry of Bingzhou are elite, and they can be regarded as the elite among the elite if they are trapped in the camp. This troop can be used to combat, cavalry and archery is superb, and they uniformly use spears as weapons, and have excellent horses with strong bows and crossbows. Strong armed.Cao Jun's cavalry was still busy parrying bows and arrows, but they saw their opponents rushing towards them like lightning. Before they could raise their weapons, Leng Sensen's spear had already penetrated into his chest!In the blink of an eye, a row of cavalry fell off their horses immediately, some fell to the ground and died, and some rolled on the spot and were trampled into meat sauce by iron hooves. Cao Cao's front army was also carefully selected, but their skills were like child's play in front of the trapped camp. The charge stopped immediately, and they could only parry and have no power to fight back.Gao Shun personally led the soldiers to fight hard, with spears scurrying around like ghosts and silver snakes, breaking through Cao Jun's defense line in three bursts and two bursts.If the river collapses, it will hurt more people!Trapped in the camp, the cavalry suddenly raised their spears and stabbed the swarming Cao Jun to death like a toad.Thanks to Yu Jin, Le Jin, Zhu Ling, and Xu Huang, four powerful generals in the formation, and Guan Yu who joined the battle angrily, although the formation was chaotic, it was not broken.Each of the five generals wields their weapons and fights hard, but the bravery of one person is no match for a group of demons, and it is nothing more than killing one or two opponents. Cao Cao could see clearly from behind. If the fight continued like this, the front army would be completely defeated sooner or later.But the soldiers in front and behind saw it, and the battle was impossible to fight immediately.He hurriedly ordered the whole army to attack, and he must consolidate his position before the front army was defeated. As soon as the order came out, the three formations of infantry from the left, middle and right stepped forward, engulfing the former army and the trapped camp together in the crowd like a wave.Seeing this, Cheng Lian, Wei Xu, and Cao Xing on the opposite side, fearing that the enemy would be outnumbered, hurriedly summoned the whole army to dispatch, and the remaining Bingzhou cavalry and Hanoi soldiers also quickly joined the fight.In an instant, the horses hissed wildly and the weapons intersected, killing a ghost in the dark and crying. At the time of this crowded charge, Lu Bu's side had a big problem! The front army has already dispatched all of them, and it stands to reason that the troops behind should follow up quickly and take advantage of the situation to cover up the kill.However, the Guangling soldiers under Chen Deng suddenly changed their formation. The original square formation quickly formed into a long snake formation!The Yanzhou rebels and Xuzhou soldiers in the back were eager to try, but when they saw the change in front, they thought that Chen Deng had a sudden inspiration and had a plan to defeat the enemy, so they waited for the time being.Unexpectedly, after waiting for a while, the Guangling soldiers would stand still and not move at all, while the troops behind were completely blocked by this human wall. As soon as Cao Jun just confronted, he was a little weak, exhausted and timid, but seeing that the number of opponents charging was limited, everyone held their hearts together and raised their weapons together. Rows of long spears and halberds stabbed closely, and the state cavalry was thrown away. Individuals are thrown off their feet.Not long after, Cao Jun surrounded the enemy in Gaixin like making dumplings. 『①Gaixin, the center of the siege on the battlefield. 』 Chen Deng sat on the carved saddle and watched the scene of the siege, with a smug smile on his face.He had been preparing for this day for a long time. While he was gathering people's hearts in Guangling, recruiting pirates, and mobilizing soldiers, he wrote letters of gratitude to Lv Bu twice in three days.Because he had won the trust, when he took the initiative to ask Ying to be the second main force in the middle, no one stood up to object!Chen Deng's scheming was actually more vicious than Cao Cao expected. If he had turned against him before the confrontation, Gao Shun would have failed in the battle and the Bingzhou army would have fled in disarray; It means that Lu Bu's capital will be wiped out in this battle, and he will never be able to fight again!And the damage of his own Guangling soldiers will be greatly reduced. At noon, the red sun was shining without clouds, and the battlefield was also hazy with dust.Cao's army surrounded the enemy densely. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Xia Houyuan, Le Jin, Xu Huang, Zhu Ling and other brave generals counterattacked with their weapons, and the soldiers behind them grew up with more bullying than less spirit.It's just a pity for this group of fierce and fierce Bingzhou cavalry. They fought a war that had no chance of winning. Awakening, enveloping bursts of tragic howls before death.But the people trapped in the camp were all lonely heroes. Although they knew they were invincible, they fought to the death. Some fell to the ground and threw their spears at Cao Bing before dying. Without letting go of their necks, some lost their horses and rushed to Cao Jun with bare hands... Faced with such a shocking scene, Chen Deng turned a blind eye.In his mind, Lu Bu and his gang are just a group of bandits, they have neither the will to unify the world nor the ability to govern the country, they can do nothing but kill and loot, killing them is no different from killing wild animals . Just as he was ignoring the battlefield, there was a sudden commotion behind him. The commander of the Danyang army, Xu Danzong, rushed over and shouted anxiously: "Chen Yuanlong! What the hell are you doing! The Bingzhou army is almost finished, why don't you attack?" Chen Deng smiled sweetly: "General Xu, don't worry! Come here, my lord has something secret to tell me, I'll tell you." Lu Bu's camp was a mess of factions, and all the generals were used to intrigue. Xu Danwen believed such nonsense and rushed to Chen Deng's side: "What did my lord say?" Chen Deng moved close to Xu Dan's ear and whispered, "My lord ordered me to defect before the battle." Xu Dan was startled, he was still thinking about the meaning of this sentence, when suddenly he felt a chill behind his back, several Guangling soldiers had already thrust their spears into his back!Xu Dan stumbled off his horse, still responding to Chen Deng's words: "Your... master... is, who is..." Before he finished speaking, blood gushed out of his mouth, and he died. Chen Deng couldn't help shaking his head, and murmured to the corpse: "You ask who is my master? What about Xu Dan yourself? As the general of Danyang, you were supposed to be Zhou Xin's subordinate, but you followed Tao Qian to the north and rebelled against him. Liu Bei welcomes Lu Bu, who is your master? You are always capricious, who told us to catch up with this world..." After saying that, he sighed, suddenly feeling very tight in his chest and abdomen.Chen Deng didn't know when he contracted a strange disease, and sometimes he was breathless and painful, and now he committed it again. Afraid of delaying the important event, he quickly ordered his subordinates: "Mr. , the whole army turned their heads and killed me backwards!" The Guangling army defected in front of the formation, which disrupted the entire battle situation.Xuzhou soldiers and Bingzhou rebels in the back were stretching their necks and trying to watch the battle over the people in front. Suddenly, they saw the wall of people turning around, and spears and halberds rushed towards them. This blow was unexpected, causing countless casualties.The Danyang soldiers couldn't even find their own commander, so they had no intention of fighting, so they threw away their helmets and armor and fled.As for the miscellaneous troops of Zang Ba, Sun Guan, Wu Dun, Yin Li, and Chang Ba, they whispered to each other and became a mess. Cao Cao saw it clearly from the opposite side, and couldn't help admiring: "Chen Yuanlong is really skillful!" He ordered the army to cover up and kill him. Shouts of killing, wailing, neighing of horses, and begging for mercy resounded through the sky, and the camp of Lu Bu's rear army was thrown into chaos.Gao Shunshang was struggling for his life in the encirclement, without even a single soldier around him.How many nails can you drive with iron all over your body?While rushing from left to right, he gradually felt his arms were numb and his breathing was difficult. He knew that he could no longer fight, so he quickly turned his horse's head and stabbed several Cao soldiers to death in succession. Only then did he meet Wei Xu, Cao Xing and Cheng Lian. .But the brigade and state soldiers were all killed in battle, and the generals were accompanied by dozens of people, most of whom were injured several times.And the cao army soldiers surrounded by layers of armor were surrounded by layers of armor, and countless swords, guns, and weapons were turning around in the sun, glowing red, making people dizzy. It is more difficult to break through the encirclement than ascend to the sky. Suddenly a yellow shadow flashed, and a Bingzhou General burst in from the periphery of Cao Jun.This person is eight feet long, with broad arms and round waist, bright armor, and a fat yellow horse. He has a pale golden face, a yellow beard, a big and wide forehead, a straight nose and a straight mouth, and his chin sticks out like a shovel. A big sword with an elephant nose, majestic and unstoppable—it is Zhang Liao and Zhang Wenyuan! Zhang Liao was bold and forthright, and had close personal relationships with Zang Ba, Sun Guan and others, so Lu Bu sent him to organize those people as a helping hand.But seeing the sudden change in the battle, Zhang Liao felt that there was no hope of winning, so he led his own soldiers to break through the Guangling Army and Cao Army to rescue people.Gao Shun and the others were all exhausted, seeing Zhang Liao as a straw, he quickly followed him and fled.As he was fleeing, he suddenly heard a commotion, and Guan Yu blocked the road with a horizontal knife. Guan Yu saw Zhang Liao at a glance. He had dealt with Lu Bu's subordinates in Xiaopeijiu for the past two years, and he regarded Zhang Liao as a friend, so he shouted loudly: "Wen Yuan! Why don't you surrender after this matter? Cao Gong has his own brother who went to the United States. Word." "If you want to fight, you can fight! Today's affairs are their own masters!" Zhang Liao fought left and right without forgetting to answer. "Wenyuan looks at the knife!" After all, Guan Yu had his eyes on this person, and he shouted before making a move. Zhang Liao didn't dare to be negligent, he hacked to death a junior Cao Jun next to him, and hurried back to parry with his saber.The Elephant Trunk Knife vs. the Yanyue Knife, when they touched each other, they exerted force, one was lifted and the other was pressed, and the two weapons drew an arc in mid-air before releasing their force to disassemble.Gao Shun's hands were quick and his eyes were quick, he pierced his spear and hit his horse, and he ducked under the two weapons and shouted: "Guan Yu sees the move!" . Guan Yu secretly scolded Gao Shun for being cunning. He wanted to chase but saw Zhang Liao's sword coming again, so he had to fight the sword twice.Zhang Liao really exerted all his life's strength in this saber, Guan Yu also tried his best to block it, there was a loud "Dang", and the two large sabers were placed in midair.As soon as Cheng Lian saw that he was grabbing the medicine according to the prescription, he urged his horse to pass under it, and another one escaped. Seeing that Cao Xing and Wei Xu were also about to leave behind, Guan Yu hurriedly withdrew his saber, swung in the air and slashed at Cao Xing.Cao Xing was caught off guard and unable to parry, so he quickly pulled his horse to dodge - the man dodged, but seeing the red light flashing, the horse's head had been chopped off by the Yanyue knife!Zhang Liao just took the initiative to attack with great force, Guan Yu suddenly withdrew his knife, but he couldn't hold it back, but seeing the situation changed, Cao Xing's horse fell dead, and the place where his knife fell was Cao Xing's head; he quickly turned the horse's head The knife went astray, so the move went empty. Zhang Liao was also really good. In the blink of an eye, he raised his sword again to stabilize his mind, intending to fight Guan Yu again, when Cao Xing sat on the ground and shouted at him: "Damn it! We are finished, you still run!" He shook his face Look, Cao Xing couldn't stand up with a thigh injury, and Wei Xu behind him was full of fear, relying on the protection of a dozen soldiers around him; and the brave generals of Cao Ying's squad had already surrounded them—these two were already rescuers. Can't come out!Zhang Liao gritted his teeth, brandished his broadsword in a sweeping move, and took advantage of the situation to steer his horse, chasing Gao Shun and Cheng Lian to break through. The three members came to have a horse title and ponytail, rushed out of the encirclement like a centipede, stretched their teeth and danced their claws, raised their eyes to the east and looked at their camp, and couldn't help but feel horrified - the original mighty team has long since disappeared, and Chen Deng led his troops. , Yanzhou soldiers broke up and chased in the direction of Pengcheng.And those teams who helped the soldiers only knew how to add icing on the cake, and had no intention of sending charcoal in the middle of nowhere. They each brought their own troops and went away... The bloody battlefield gradually fell silent, and the drummers also stopped their wrists.The remaining dozen or so Bingzhou soldiers all fell off their horses, each of them was dying of blood, although they still held their spears, they had no strength to fight back.Cao Jun outside surrounded layer after layer, tens of thousands of weapons pointed coldly at them.At this time, the soldiers moved away from a small alley, and Cao Cao, surrounded by tiger and leopard cavalry, approached them with confidence. He glanced at them, and said with a smile, "Is there any general who leads the army?" "Sinful generals... see Duke Cao!" Wei Xu was so frightened when he saw Cao Cao that he fell to his knees like chaff. Seeing this scene, Cao Xing held his injured leg and couldn't stop shouting: "Shameless villain! How can you bow your knees to the old thief! Thanks to you, you are still the commander-in-chief of the camp. You really humiliated us Bingzhou men!" Xu Chu, who was behind, heard that Cao Xing scolded the "old thief" and was about to step forward to kill him. Cao Cao blocked him with a horizontal whip, and said with a smile: "This is the end, don't you return?" Cao Xing shouted at the top of his voice, "Don't surrender! Don't surrender! If Chen Yuanlong hadn't defected in front of the battle, how could you, an old man, have won? Conspiracies and schemes won't be won by force!" Cao Cao twisted his beard and said: "This is called conspiracy and trickery? Don't you hear the saying in the Art of War that 'you can't use it without sage wisdom, you can't use it without benevolence and righteousness, and you can't get the truth without subtlety'?" Then Lu Bu rewarded virtue with grievances. Ding Yuan, stabbing Dong Zhuo, opposing Yuan Shao, abandoning Zhang Miao, and attacking Liu Bei, these villains who are only interested in profit in the courts of Qin, Mu and Chu have already lost their hearts! Before Guangling Chen Deng turned his back, the young and Xu Haoqiang scattered. Only you are left A stupid and obstinate martial artist, do you still want to be buried for him?" "Hmph! Our Bingzhou warriors are famous all over the world, and we will never surrender!" "What idiots!" Cao Cao shook his head, "If it weren't for Lu Bu, you good people from Bingzhou, why would you come to Xuzhou after being conscripted and exiled... don't you miss your relatives in your hometown?" This sentence really touched Cao Xing, and the man of steel and iron could not help but burst into tears.Lu Bu always told them that one day he would take everyone back to his hometown of Bingzhou, but from Chang'an to Hanoi, from Hanoi to Yanzhou, from Yanzhou to Xuzhou, all the way eastward, he was farther and farther away from his hometown, maybe he would never be able to go back in this life ... Seeing this scene, the generals of Cao Jun were all sad; Cao Cao also felt sad, and asked again in a low voice: "Surrender or not?" Cao Xing wiped away his tears and said, "Warriors in Bingzhou will not surrender until they die!" Wei Xu was so shocked that his face turned ashen, and he kowtowed again and again: "Mr. Cao, please forgive me! If he doesn't surrender, I will surrender..." This sentence was not finished, but Cao Xing suddenly pulled out his waist knife, the blade flashed and drew an arc in the air, he had hacked Wei Xu to death in a pool of blood.Before the surrounding Cao soldiers could cry out in alarm, Cao Xing had a knife in his neck again, and he pulled it suddenly, blood sprayed from his throat, and he murmured: "I'm going home..." and fell on Wei Xu's body. "Alas...it's a pity..." Cao Caofang sighed, and saw the cold light bursting again. The dozen or so defeated soldiers were holding spears in their hands. The west wind blew down the straw, and they were buried in disorder on the battlefield. "This is also a warrior, let's bury them!" Cao Cao turned his horse and couldn't bear to look any more, feeling dazed—Lv Bu had trained these simple men into murderous and plundering beasts, as if they didn't know what to live for if they didn't fight , this is really the tragedy of being a human being... When I looked up, I saw Lu Zhao coming on horseback: "My lord, Chen Deng has won a complete victory in chasing the enemy. Hou Kai, the guard of Pengcheng, dared not open the door, and the defeated soldiers have already fled towards Xiapi." "Okay!" Cao Cao regained his spirits and returned to normal, "Order the three armies to surround Pengcheng! I want to lure Lu Bu to fight in person!"