Chapter 252: Capture and Kill [Subscribe]

East of Liucheng.

Afternoon application time.

The news that Cao's army was attacking and Tadun was gathering men soon reached another Wuhuan Khan, Louban.

Changba is a small town.

Lou Ban led 15,000 elite Wuhuan troops and stationed them here, together with Tadun of Liucheng and Nengchen of Xiashancheng, forming a triangular defense system.

Upon hearing Tadun's message, Lou Ban immediately ordered 5,000 cavalry to rescue Liucheng.

Because they were already at war, with a full complement of troops and horses, Lou Ban was able to gather his troops very quickly.

The distance between him and Liucheng where Tadun was located was less than fifty miles, and fast horses could quickly provide support.

With the addition of capable ministers, the terrain of the three places is similar to that of Baima, Yanjin and Yangwu during the Guandu period, with them supporting each other.

Lou Ban led the army personally, and it was already dark when they approached Liucheng.

As he moved forward, he encountered the second wave of scouts, who told him that the battle in Liucheng was over.

It is impossible to determine the outcome of a large-scale siege in one battle.

Cao's army launched an offensive, killing many people, and withdrew after dark.

But under the attack of Cao's army, corpses were scattered all over Liucheng and beyond.

There were also people in the city who cooperated with Cao's army and tried to burn the food and supplies.

The three Wuhuan counties were inhabited by both Han and Wuhuan peoples, so it was not difficult for some spies from Cao's camp to infiltrate.

Tadun suspected that Cao's army was killing prisoners and inviting a fight outside the city in order to attract their attention and give people inside the city an opportunity to set fire to the food.

Fortunately, it was discovered early and only a small part of the food and fodder was burned, so the impact was not great.

Twenty miles outside the city.

When Lou Ban heard that Cao's army had retreated, he said, "Scouts, disperse and speed up."

The five thousand troops continued to advance.

It was completely dark.

As the army was marching, Lou Ban suddenly felt the ground shaking. He listened carefully and immediately determined that it was the sound of a large number of horses galloping.

"Han troops are rushing out from the mountains on the flank, trying to ambush us!"

Lou Ban was not surprised but happy.

This place is located in the triangular area where the Wuhuan army is intertwined.

As long as he engaged in battle with the Han army, Neng Chendizhi and Tadun would quickly send troops to encircle and kill the Han army.

"The Han army wants to ambush me here?"

Regardless of whether they were troops under Yuan Shao or Cao Cao, the Wuhuan people uniformly called them the Han Army.

Lou Ban said calmly: "Form a battle array to meet the enemy!"

The Wuhuan were a nomadic people, mainly light cavalry with almost no armor, and their main focus was flexibility.

The speed at which they changed their formation was breathtaking.

The Han army rode out and quickly turned their horses' heads to form a triangular formation ready to fight.

far away.

The Han army was not coming fast and seemed to be approaching slowly.

"Why is the Han army so slow?"

Lou Ban is thin and has bow legs due to years of riding.

His eyes were bright as he stared at the direction of the Han army's attack. He felt a little uneasy because the Han army's attack was very abnormal.

The terrain and time were not suitable.

What's more important is that when it comes to charging into an ambush, how can we move so slowly?
In the darkness, the Han army gradually became clear.

Thousands of Han troops were arranged in a goose formation.

Louban stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.

He gripped his spear tightly, ready to fight the Han army.

At this time, the Han army was about 150 feet away.

Just as Lou Ban was about to shout "start the war", he saw the Han army in front of him speeding up and splitting into two sides like a tide.

"Protect the flanks. Cao's army is trying to break through the formation from both sides!"

Squad leader Lou quickly ordered the team to take strict precautions.

The Wuhuan soldiers then split into two sides, forming two large arcs along with the Han army, and adjusted their formation.

As they watched, torches suddenly lit up at the location where the Han army was divided.

The Han army used fire sticks to light the torches that had been prepared in advance.

In an instant, the Han army was like two fire dragons, galloping to both sides and surrounding the Wuhuan people in the middle.

"wrong!"

Lou Ban stared in the direction where the Han army had just appeared.

The Han army spread out to both wings, and another team was sent to the rear of the central army.

That team was very far away from the Wuhuan people and it was impossible to see their number clearly.

However, Lou Ban felt a strong sense of crisis towards that direction!
hum-

The bowstring was tightened and pulled, and then the sharp sound of shooting was heard suddenly.

Dense arrows shot through the night!
When the Han cavalry appeared, the strong crossbow team in the rear was already forming a battle array.

The Han army in the front rode their horses slowly and did not gather momentum to charge, in order to buy time for the strong crossbow team in the rear.

When the Han army split up and marched to both wings, they left space for the crossbow team to attack.

By going around to both sides and lighting torches, they could point out the area for the crossbow team to shoot arrows in the dark, which was within the range surrounded by the torches, thus avoiding blind shooting.

The arrow breaks through the air!

Lou Ban watched as a soldier in front of him fell off his horse.

An arrow more than three feet long shot through the backs of the soldiers.

Such a long arrow and terrifying penetrating power, it must be a powerful crossbow!

Even though Louban was hundreds of feet away, he could still hear the sound of the Han army drawing up their bows for the second time.

In the distance, under the night sky, rows of Han soldiers were sitting, stringing their bows with their feet.

Huge crossbow arrows were shot out one after another.

The arrow flew in the air, the friction between the arrow tip and the air formed an umbrella-shaped air flow, with a sharp and piercing sound.

At Guandu, Cao Cao used positional warfare to limit some of the power of Jizhou's powerful crossbows, but as for fighting against cavalry and ambushing in advance, the initiative was in the hands of the Han army.

The dense sound of arrows was like rain hitting banana leaves.

The Wuhuan were shot through, and countless of them fell off their horses. "Scatter!"

"Follow me to break out to the left wing!"

Lou Ban shouted at the top of his lungs.

In just three rounds of volleys, most of the Wuhuan people fell off their horses, some were injured or died.

Just as the Wuhuan formation dispersed and prepared to break out, the arrows suddenly stopped!
The sharp sound of the arrow disappeared.

boom--

In the distance, the sound of hooves was like heavy drums. A troop of soldiers rushed out, led by twenty-eight heavy cavalrymen!
"Kill through the Han army ranks and charge."

Lou Ban's eyes were bloodshot as he led the way, trying to break through the encirclement of Cao's army on both sides before the heavy cavalry came up.

……

Liucheng.

"Commander-in-chief, Chanyu Louban encountered an ambush by the Han army on his way to the rescue, and a scout came to ask for help!"

Tadun sat in the main hall of the Duwei Mansion, listening to the scout's report:

"The Han army attacked with crossbows and arrows, and Louban Chanyu's troops suffered heavy casualties."

"Please send troops quickly!"

Tadun frowned: "If I send out troops now, the Han army will surely ambush my troops as well!"

A few miles outside the city.

Zhang Liao stood on a high ground and looked far towards Liucheng.

"General Zhang, do you think Liucheng will send troops?" Cao Chun stood beside Zhang Liao and also looked at Liucheng from afar!

"Yes, if we don't help, we will have to watch Louban get eaten up by us. If Tadun doesn't help others, how can he expect others to help him?"

“If he does not help, the Wuhuan will be trapped in a situation where each of them acts on their own and lose the advantage of supporting each other.

Therefore, under the pressure of the situation, Tadun will definitely send troops."

Zhang Liao said, "But I have fought him several times before. He is an expert in military affairs and he probably saw that we were waiting to ambush him."

"He ordered his troops to leave the city, so he won't be defenseless. We must be prepared for a tough battle!"

On the other side was Gao Shun, the commander of the Xianzhen Camp: "As long as the Wuhuan people don't hide in the city, our Xianzhen Camp is not afraid of a tough battle."

The night is dark.

The gate of Liucheng opened, and a team of Wuhuan soldiers rushed out, ready to rescue Lou Ban.

But Tadun was indeed on guard.

The first group of several thousand soldiers went out, and after walking three or four miles, another group rushed out from behind.

The two teams cooperate with each other and can support each other at any time to prevent being ambushed.

After receiving the scout's report that the enemy had already set out, Gao Shun requested to fight:

"I will lead my troops to attack the front army first. When I engage the enemy, General, you can send troops to block their rear army!"

"No!"

Zhang Liao thought for a moment and said, "Let Cao Chun lead the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, they will be more flexible. He will attack from the flank first.

The distance and terrain here are not suitable for an ambush, and the enemy has already prepared. Send out the light cavalry first, Gao Shun, you lead the trap camp, and target the rear army."

"I will coordinate in the middle and guard against changes!"

The whole mountain was filled with shouts and cries of killing.

Cao Chun took the lead in leading the troops to rush out!

On the other side, Gu Tuo, the Wuhuan general who led his troops out of the city, said, "Tadun Chanyu is right. The Han army has an ambush. Let's meet the enemy."

The battle between the enemy and us that night took place around Liucheng, and flames of war broke out in many places.

Cao Cao's main intention was not to set an ambush, but to lure the enemy out of the city.

Since ancient times, siege warfare has been the most difficult to fight, with high consumption and often lasting several months.

What's more, Cao's army was on a long expedition and lacked large siege equipment.

If the Wuhuan hold their ground throughout the entire process and support each other, it will take a long time to capture the city.

Cao Cao wanted to conquer Wuhuan before winter, which sounded like an impossible task, so he had to mobilize the enemy out of the city, consume their energy and avoid siege.

In the fighting that night, the Louban unit suffered the heaviest losses, being almost wiped out, with only a small number of deserters surviving.

Lou Ban, one of the Chanyu of Wuhuan, was knocked off his horse by heavy cavalry and captured alive.

The next morning.

A capable minister arrived and led his troops to the location where Lou Ban was attacked.

Only the corpses of the Wuhuan people were left on the battlefield.

The capable minister was also blocked by the Han army last night.

Both sides suffered casualties on each other.

The purpose of that team of Cao's army was to delay the capable minister and prevent him from assisting Lou Ban's troops.

Tadun judged in advance that Cao's army might block the way, so he made a lot of targeted arrangements.

Zhang Liao, Cao Chun, and Gao Shun engaged them and gained the upper hand, but Tadun's men did not fight to the death and quickly retreated to Liucheng.

Neither of the two supporting forces could save Lou Ban’s troops from being annihilated.

The next morning, Cao's army came to the city again to challenge the enemy, and piled up the corpses of the captives killed by hammers the day before outside the city.

When Cao's army pushed out a man from among the new prisoners of war, the Wuhuan soldiers on the city wall burst into an uproar.

The one who was pushed out was Louban Chanyu.

His hair was disheveled and his face and body were covered in blood.

Cao Cao waved his hand and gave the order. The Cao army responsible for the execution beheaded Louban Chanyu in front of the two armies and threw his head on the top of the city wall.

"I will not give up with the Han army. I will fight to the death!"

Inside the city, Tadun shouted angrily: "The Xianbei should have received the news. Have they sent out troops? Where have they gone?"

"I don't know!"

"Go explore!"

Cao’s army camp.

Cao Cao came back and looked at the map: "Did the Xianbei send out troops?"

"No news has been sent yet, but in recent years no one in Xianbei has dared to sharpen their swords, and they feel they are at their peak.

The Tuohe Huan tribe suffered a loss at our hands. When they hear the news, they will definitely send out a large force!"

"Inform all the tribes that the time to make achievements has come. Kill the foreigners and those who refuse to surrender. They will all be executed!" Cao Cao said.

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(End of this chapter)