I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 712 Pardoning Prisoners

Zhang Liao was unstoppable and moved freely among the Jingzhou army.

The more than 3,000 heavily armed heavy cavalry that Liu Jian had previously equipped were all under Zhang Liao's command!

This is also recognized by Zhao Yun.

It was this time that Liu Jian wanted Zhang Liao to fully demonstrate his talents through this battle.

Let the world see what kind of person Zhang Wenyuan is.

Zhang Liao led an army under Lu Bu back then, so he was no equal. He had rich combat experience, especially in commanding cavalry. He was on par with Zhao Yun and others.

Now that the most elite 3,000 heavy cavalrymen of the Han Dynasty have been handed over to him, it can be said that today's battle has allowed Zhang Liao to fully express himself.

Zhang Liao galloped on his horse and brandished his sword, showing great majesty.

Countless Jingzhou soldiers died in his hands.

Cai Mao could no longer hold on. Although the opponent's 8,000 cavalry were smaller than the more than 20,000 soldiers under his command, where the opponent's cavalry charged, his 20,000 cavalry were killed and injured. It is impossible to form an effective blow to the opponent.

When there was still some distance just now, our side could still cause some losses to the opponent with the power of crossbows and spear formations.

Now, these cavalry have rushed into their own formation, and the Jingzhou soldiers are like lambs allowed to be slaughtered by them, with no power to fight back.

In this desperate situation, Cai Mao could only shout loudly: "Stop fighting, retreat quickly, retreat quickly!"

It's not that he is a coward, but that this situation is the most realistic situation for him.

He is also a general who has been proficient in battle formations all year round. Although the scale of the battlefield he has experienced is not particularly large, the situation on the battlefield can still be seen, and the current situation gives him an intuitive feeling that these northern cavalry are here. There is simply no one invincible on this plain battlefield.

Although the Jingzhou Army has a large number of people, it is like a mantis trying to fight a cart in front of the opponent's cavalry. Their combat power is of no use at all.

The powerful heavy cavalry rushed through Jingzhou's military formation as if they were being crushed.

The light cavalry that followed also came on horseback. They either used spears, long spears, sabers, or bows and crossbows to attack.

The Jingzhou army was like a lamb in front of them, and these eight thousand cavalry were like eight thousand tigers galloping down the mountain.

Facing these lambs, slaughtering them can be said to be extremely simple and easy.

And Cai Mao now has no way to reverse this decline.

The current battle is about the gap in hard power.

Not to mention that Cai Mao is just a famous general in Jingzhou, even if he has the ability to defend Huo, in this situation, I am afraid there is no way to make any waves.

Not only the ordinary soldiers of the Jingzhou Army, but now even the general Sima of the Jingzhou Army were not spared from the offensive of these powerful cavalry.

Many captains of the Jingzhou Army, Sima, were killed by the galloping cavalry with short crossbows or spears. They did not even have time to call for personal guards.

Zhang Liao followed Zhao Yun's instructions, aiming at the opponent's banner and running quickly, and the location of the opponent's banner was where Cai Hao himself was.

Seeing the opponent's most invincible and powerful cavalry rushing towards him, Cai Hao began to tremble all over.

He and Lu Dai hurriedly called to their cavalry and supported them as they rushed southward.

It's a pity that although they are all riding horses, Zhang Liao and the others are far faster than them!

Although most of the horses that Zhang Liao and his group were riding were wearing armor, compared with the horses from the south, the endurance, leg strength, and speed of the horses from the north were far stronger than them. Even in terms of carrying capacity, they were not as good as those from the south. comparable to horses.

In this case, Zhang Liao quickly caught up with Cai Mao, Lu Dai and others.

Zhang Liao commanded his sergeants to violently massacre Cai Mao and others from behind. Zhang Liao himself was even more unstoppable, going back and forth to the left and right.

Soon, Zhang Liao was seen fighting near Cai Mao. At this time, Cai Mao was leading Lu Dai to run south together. Zhang Liao threw the sword in his hand forward and stabbed the brigade Lu Dai in the back of the heart, killing Lu Dai off his horse.

Afterwards, Zhang Liao led his troops to pursue Cai Hao at an extremely fast speed!

At this time, Cai Mao was extremely frightened, but there was nothing he could do to stop Zhang Liao. He galloped on his horse while constantly calling his men to protect him!

It's a pity that the cavalry in Jingzhou are too busy to take care of themselves. Who has the ability to protect Cai Hao?

Not long after, Zhang Liao was seen galloping behind Cai Mao!

"Where are the southern thieves going? Get off your horse and surrender!"

Zhang Liao spoke with a standard Bingzhou accent, and his words were very different from those in the Central Plains. Although Cai Hao did not look back, Zhang Liao's voice frightened three of his souls and lost two of them, and he risked his life. He whipped his riding whip, and his horse galloped forward.

But the problem is that the speed of his horse is far inferior to that of Zhang Liao's.

Soon, Zhang Liao killed the cavalry behind Cai Hao, and then rode up to Cai Hao. He stretched out his hand, grabbed the cloak behind Cai Hao, and pulled back hard.

Cai Hao felt a huge force coming suddenly from behind. His neck was strangled and his body leaned backwards, as if he was about to be pulled off the horse!

In this moment of crisis, Cai Mao suddenly burst out with endless potential and strength.

He gritted his teeth and continued to hit the horse with all his strength. Then he suddenly tugged on his cloak and tore it out of Zhang Liao's hands. Then he clamped the horse's belly tightly and moved forward like crazy. Keep running.

When Zhang Liao saw Cai Mao escaping, he was startled for a moment, and then couldn't help laughing.

"He's quite capable of running!"

After Zhang Liao laughed, he mounted his horse again and led his men to catch up.

Cai Mao was caught by Zhang Liao just now and was so frightened that he was beating the horse like crazy, and the whip in his hand flew away.

Without the riding whip, Cai Hao rushed forward like crazy!

But it's a pity that even so, he still couldn't escape Zhang Liao's grasp.

Zhang Liao caught up with him at an extremely fast speed and once again reached out and grabbed Cai Mao's cloak.

After Zhang Liao grabbed his cloak, he continued to follow Cai Hao on horseback while tugging hard on his cloak. Cai Hao's body tilted, and the force of the cloak pulled his clothes back, making him unable to hold back. I'm angry and my face is red.

Cai Hao gritted his teeth and reached out to pull his cloak again, but Zhang Liao didn't give him a chance. He reached out and took out the longbow hanging on the saddle, and used the longbow to shine on Cai Hao's head, with a sharp bow. Beat it down.

"Snapped!"

With this bow, blood flew everywhere!

Other people's bows are used to shoot people, but Zhang Liao's bow is used to cut people.

The blow with the bow was very strong. Although Cai Mao had a hood on his head, he was still dizzy from the beating, with bleeding from the corners of his eyes and forehead, and his face was bright red.

Cai Mao had no strength left to resist now. He wailed in pain, and then he was pulled hard by Zhang Liao, and fell from his horse to the ground like an eagle catching a chicken.

And none of the personal guards around him came to save him.

The Jingzhou Army's more than 20,000 soldiers were beaten to pieces by cavalry capable of trampling mountains and rivers. He could only care about his own life, but he didn't even care about the life of his commander.

In this battle, Hebei's cavalry completely demonstrated their majesty and morale.

More than 20,000 Jingzhou soldiers were beaten to pieces and had no strength left to resist.

Cai Mao was captured alive by Zhang Liao. School captain Lu Dai was stabbed to death by Zhang Liao. Zhang Liao could be said to have greatly increased his prestige this time.

Who in the Central Plains knows the name of Zhang Wenyuan?

In particular, his heroic deeds of beating the opponent's general with a single bow until his face was covered in blood were widely spread.

……

Afterwards, Zhang Liao escorted the bodies of Cai Hao and Lu Dai back, while Zhao Yun ordered people to send them to Liu Jian's camp outside Luoyang.

Lu Dai was a talented person in the south. Zhang Liao beheaded this person, so he was naturally recorded as a great military exploit. But at the same time, he was able to capture the enemy's general Cai Mao alive, which is indeed a big credit.

After all, Cai Mao has a very high status in Yuan Shao's army. It can be said that when Yuan Shao formed the Jingzhou Army, he was the leader of the largest force among the warlords in Jingzhou.

Logically speaking, if a person like Cai Mao is captured alive, there will definitely be no good end.

If it had been someone else, he would have been beheaded directly to raise the morale of the three armies.

But Liu Jian did not do this.

On the contrary, Liu Jian actually treated Cai Mao very favorably.

After Cai Mao entered Liu Jian's camp, Liu Jian met him personally. At that time, Cai Mao was tied up and escorted to Liu Jian.

Liu Jian also looked like this, and walked up to Cai Mao himself at that time.

He cut off the rope on Cai Mao's body with his sword, then reprimanded all his men and said, "How could you be so rude to Mr. Cai of Xiangyang?"

Then, he looked at Cai Mao with a smile and said: "General Cai, although you and I have not met each other for a long time, we are actually related to each other by marriage. Now that we meet on the battlefield, although you and I are enemies, Liu must recognize him." My dear, the general has suffered."

After saying that, Liu Jian pointed at Cai Mao's face and said, "Look...who was so cruel? My brother-in-law slapped me, and he even lost his appearance! Why don't you call a military doctor quickly?"

Cai Mao didn't expect that Liu Jian would actually recognize him as his brother-in-law. For a moment, he was ashamed and his face was full of guilt.

"I have heard for a long time that the Prime Minister is very righteous. When I saw him today, he was indeed worthy of his reputation. The fight between Mao and the Prime Minister was like a mantis blocking a car. How could he be the Prime Minister's opponent? It's just that as a general in Jingzhou, Mao should serve for Duke Yuan... Please also ask Prime Minister, please don’t blame me.”

Liu Jian laughed loudly and said, "You and I are related by marriage, how can I blame you?"

"I have already arranged a banquet in the camp. Let's have a good drink today and talk about our family ties. When we look back, Ami smells it, and I have something to say, right? Follow me and enter the tent!"

Later, Liu Jian and Cai Mao entered the commander's tent and had a banquet together.

Cai Mao and Liu Jian had a close relationship with each other during the Qin and Jin Dynasties. Liu Jian treated Cai Mao very well and frequently encouraged him to drink during the dinner.

But despite this, Cai Mao still felt uneasy.

His mind is not in his right mind.

Faced with Liu Jian's persuasion to drink, he just had no choice but to deal with it.

The smile on his face is also quite stiff.

Anyone could see that he was feeling uneasy and filled with uneasiness.

Liu Jian seemed to notice that Cai Mao was in a low mood at the moment.

He immediately said with a smile: "Degui, don't panic or be afraid. You are my brother-in-law. How can I harm you? After this banquet, I will send someone to send you back to Jingzhou and let you return to your homeland. Liu I would never take the lives of my relatives."

"There are also soldiers who were captured alive with you in this battle. I should also send them back!"

Cai Mao couldn't help being shocked when he heard this.

He looked at Liu Jian in surprise and said, "Prime Minister, are you serious about this?"

Liu Jian smiled and said: "Of course I take it seriously! As the prime minister of the imperial court, I keep my word, how can I lie to others with my words?"

Cai Hao felt relieved after hearing this, and his appetite immediately improved a lot.

He started to pick up the food on the table and started to bite hard.

While eating, I was also grateful to Liu Jian

……

True to his word, Liu Jian arranged for Cai to be sent back to Yuan Shao's camp.

Liu Jian's actions puzzled many people.

In particular, none of his generals understood that Cai Mao was a representative of a prominent family in Jingzhou. Capturing him would boost his own morale. Why did he send him directly back to Yuan Shao's camp?

Even if he and Liu Jian were as good as Qin and Jin, his sister was just a concubine of Liu Jian after all, and she was originally used by Yuan Shao and others to plot against Liu Jian as a beauty trap.

Even if Liu Jian really planned to let Cai Mao go, he might as well use Cai Mao as a bargaining chip and use him to trade with Yuan Shao.

But Liu Jian did not do this.

Everyone was puzzled by this matter, but Guo Jia was the one who knew it well.

Before Liu Jian met Cai Mao, Guo Jia suggested to Liu Jian that he must treat Cai Mao well and send Cai Mao and the prisoners in Jingzhou back to Yuan Shao as quickly as possible.

Guo Jia was born in Yingchuan and has a very good understanding of the characters and inner thoughts of these high-ranking Yue clans.

On the surface, these people appear to be very reasonable, kind, and generous in their dealings with others, but in fact, their living environment has caused them to have a high self-esteem.

Most of them cannot tolerate others being better than them, and they cannot tolerate others being more supportive than them.

Liu Jian sent Cai Mao and the prisoners back, which was tantamount to giving Yuan Shao a hard slap in the mouth.

Yuan Shao is now cultivating Cai Hao as a confidant, and he thinks there is no problem with this. However, once Liu Jian shows kindness to Cai Hao, it is difficult to guarantee that there will not be some resentment between Yuan Shao and Cai Hao.

Yuan Shao would even doubt Cai Mao in his heart and hate Cai Mao.

After all, there is some special relationship between Cai Mao and Liu Jian, that is, Cai Mao's sister is now Liu Jian's concubine, and she also gave birth to a son to Liu Jian.

Also, sending so many prisoners back at the same time was not only a demonstration of benevolence, but also a demonstration to the Jingzhou Army.

After these people return to the military camp, they will definitely spread the word about the terror of the imperial cavalry, further shaking Yuan Shao's military morale.

This incident will definitely be buried in Yuan Shao's heart and become a thorn in his heart. There is no guarantee that Yuan Shao will do something irrational because of it.

Even if Yuan Shao and Cai Mao don't fall out, Liu Jian has now shown such a strong combat power, defeated Jingzhou's 20,000 troops in one fell swoop, and then sent the opponent's general back unharmed, which is enough to show his kingly demeanor and let All the major families in Jingzhou, as well as the generals in Jingzhou, have seen what kind of person Liu Deran is!

In this way, the local families will also have considerations when Liu Jian goes south in the future.

They will understand in their hearts that Liu Jian is a benevolent and righteous person!

As long as he surrendered to Liu Jian, the lives of his family could be saved. After all, even the generals like Cai Mao who fought against Liu Jian head-on were released by Liu Jian.

Therefore, bringing Cai Mao back would be beneficial and harmless to Liu Jian's future journey south.

What's more, Cai Mao didn't have much ability to begin with, so he posed little threat to the court.

Liu Jian understood what Guo Jia said, so he acted like this.

(End of this chapter)