Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1263 Beheading
When Lou Ban led Dizhi and 20,000 Wuhuan cavalry out of Liucheng, he did not expect that the subsequent development of events would be completely different from what he had expected.

Because Zhu Luohou had set out half a day ahead, Lou Ban set out shortly after him at noon. When he was rushing from Liucheng to Bailang Mountain, he was extremely relaxed. After all, this journey of more than a hundred miles was the safest distance no matter how you thought about it.

But it was at this distance that an accident happened that no one had expected.

When Lou Ban and the Wuhuan cavalry were still more than thirty miles away from Bailang Mountain Pass, they met the cavalry led by Zhu Luohou who came to report the news. They said that they had been attacked by the Jin army at the mountain pass and hoped that Lou Ban would send people to rescue them as soon as possible.

After hearing this, Lou Ban immediately ordered the entire army to speed up their journey. At the same time, he ordered Di Zhi to take 10,000 people to reinforce Zhu Luo Hou first. After all, if Zhu Luo Hou was defeated, the Wuhuan side would be unable to hold on alone.

As the order was given, the team of 20,000 people gradually stretched out and formed a long straight line, with the vanguard of Di Zhi in the front and Lou Ban's royal tent in the back.

Because of the different travel speeds, as time passed, the team became longer and longer, and the Loubanwang tent, which should have been strictly protected, was exposed.

If it were a battle, Lou Ban and Di Zhiduan would not be so careless, but now they are near Liucheng, a safe area that the enemy cannot reach at all, and the order is to rush to the battlefield at full speed, who would care about other things?
However, they did not know that on the snow-covered ground on the slopes of the White Wolf Mountain along the way, there was a cavalry force of thousands of people hidden. They were all riding white horses and wearing white armor, covered in snow felt and white cloth, and were covered in the falling snow. If one did not observe closely, one would not be able to detect them at all.

This was none other than the vanguard cavalry led by Zhang Liao. Following Zhuge Liang's orders, he rushed at full speed through the Bailang Pass and lay in ambush near Liucheng, just to wait for this moment.

This plan was quite dangerous. If they were discovered by Zhu Luohou or Lou Ban who were passing by, they would fail and be surrounded and killed by the enemy, and the entire army would be wiped out.

Therefore, Zhang Liao selected the most reliable subordinates. He took advantage of the snowy night to reach the ambush site and lurked motionlessly in the ice and snow for a day and a night until the heavy snow buried all the traces on the hillside, so that the Xianbei and Wuhuan who set out earlier ignored him.

Of course, there were some luck factors involved, but Zhang Liao, who always had good luck, successfully waited for this moment. In his telescope, Lou Ban’s royal carriage had fallen behind, and there were only a thousand people guarding nearby. This was the best opportunity!

Seeing the carriage getting closer, he immediately gave an order. The soldiers on the hillside tore off the felt cloth on their horses, jumped on the horses, and then followed Zhang Liao to silently and quickly rush towards King Lou Ban's tent.

Because they were already at the rear of the king's tent at that time, no one noticed them for a while. It was not until the vibrations of the horses' hooves of thousands of cavalrymen on the hillside below the city were heard and seen by the guards of the king's tent that Zhang Liao had already rushed to within several miles of the king's tent!
The guards in the king's tent immediately shouted to warn people. Upon hearing the sound, the surrounding Wuhuan cavalry gathered towards the king's tent, wanting to stop the sudden enemy. However, they were huddled together in panic, and many of them were knocked off their horses. For a while, they couldn't even form a battle formation.

At this time, Lou Ban was sitting in the luxurious royal carriage, still dreaming of joining forces with the Xianbei, occupying the northern part of Youzhou, and even taking over the Central Plains. He thought of how the Jin army assassin had openly killed people in front of him, and he gnashed his teeth in hatred. The fierce tiger was so intimidating to him, did it really think he was a spineless person?

At this moment, the shrill scream startled him. He lifted the car curtain and shouted, "What are you screaming for?"

However, the chaotic scene before him terrified him, especially the cavalry charging from afar, which made his mind go blank. What happened?
A guard said anxiously: "Master Shanyu, we are ambushed!"

"I hope you stay in the car first..."

Before he could finish his words, an arrow shot into his vest and killed him on the ground. Then a dense rain of arrows was fired at the royal carriage. Seeing this, Lou Ban screamed and rolled over on the ground of the carriage. He heard a continuous sound of "thumps". Dozens of arrows hit the carriage, and several arrows penetrated the board wall, revealing their sharp arrowheads.

Lou Ban curled up, holding his head and trembling. Why did the Jin army appear here?
He shouted, "Quick, stop the enemy!"

Zhang Liao and his subordinates had already rushed forward with their troops. They took out the fire sticks they had lit in advance, lit the two bamboo tubes they had on them and threw them out.

At this time, there were already two or three thousand Wuhuan cavalrymen who had rushed over. Even if they had not formed a good formation, they could have at least stopped Zhang Liao's cavalry for a while. However, they did not expect that the Jin army would leave no way out and threw all the explosive bamboo tubes into the Wuhuan cavalry formation.

As dense explosions rang out, the army formation consisting of thousands of people collapsed instantly. Thousands of cavalrymen and horses suffered heavy casualties and fell to the ground. The uninjured horses were also completely frightened and ran around in panic. A path was immediately cleared near the king's tent.

Zhang Liao raised his iron spear high in his hand and shouted, "All troops, charge the king's tent and kill the Chanyu!"

Zhang Liao's men responded one after another. They held their spears and halberds and stabbed the Wuhuan cavalry who tried to stop them off their horses. In the blink of an eye, they approached the royal carriage.

The attack lasted less than half a cup of tea from the beginning to now, and Zhang Liao's horse never stopped from beginning to end, and did not give the Wuhuan any time to react at all!

At this time, several holes were blown into the royal carriage, and Lou Ban's leg was bleeding. He struggled to get up, and the window in front of him had been blown away, and the enemy Jin army general had rushed to within a dozen steps of him!
The cavalrymen in front of him were killing his guards one by one without any pause. Lou Ban felt a deep fear in his heart and shouted subconsciously: "Don't kill me!"

"I am Louban Chanyu. There is a misunderstanding here. I..." With a puff, Zhang Liao's iron spear pierced through Louban's mouth and came out from the back of his neck. The tip of the spear continued to move forward and was deeply nailed into the wooden wall behind Louban.

Zhang Liao shook his hand vigorously and pulled out the iron spear. A stream of blood spurted out of Lou Ban's mouth, and his body fell heavily on the carriage, dying.

The Wuhuan cavalry who were still rushing over from the surrounding areas were all stunned. The royal tent, which was the safest, became the first target of the Jin army. In just a dozen breaths, the Chanyu was killed!

Zhang Liao swung his iron spear twice to wipe off the blood on it, then raised the spear high and shouted, "I am Zhang Liao, a general under the King of Jin, and I have been ordered to suppress the rebellion!"

"The chief culprit of the rebellion, Chanyu Louban, is dead. The King of Jin has issued an order that if the others surrender, their past will be forgiven!"

The Wuhuan cavalrymen stopped in their tracks, looking at each other in hesitation. At this time, some brave men rushed towards Zhang Liao and shouted, "Avenge our Chanyu!"

He was greeted by several sharp arrows. Zhang Liao shot an arrow into the face of the cavalryman who rushed over and shouted: "If you are stubborn, I will follow the king's order to wipe out the rebellion and hold back no more!"

His men also roared and rushed towards the Wuhuan cavalry who were still resisting. They crushed the stubborn Wuhuan cavalry into pieces with great force. At this point, the morale of the Wuhuan cavalry completely collapsed, and they dismounted and surrendered one after another.

But a considerable number of Wuhuan cavalry also fled towards Dizhi's vanguard. Dizhi also noticed that something had happened behind him. He stopped and wanted to go back to check, but happened to meet the guards of the royal tent who came to report the news.

After hearing the news that Lou Ban was killed, Di Zhi felt dizzy and almost fell off his horse.

How long had it been since we came out of Liucheng that Lou Ban was killed?

How did the Jin army do it later? Why were they able to kill Lou Ban so easily despite being heavily protected?
Could it be that the main force of the Jin army is over there?
Dizhi gritted his teeth, he knew he was in danger and made a decision in an instant. As one of the masterminds of the rebellion, he would certainly not have a good end if he was caught by the Jin army. Now the only way to survive was to join forces with the Xianbei and fight off the Jin army together!

Thinking of this, he immediately gave an order, asking the entire army to ignore the Jin army behind them and instead hurry on their way to meet up with Zhu Luohou's Xianbei cavalry!
He fled in panic ahead, and Zhang Liao saw that this was exactly what he wanted, so he led his men to chase him all the way. On the way, he even told his men to shout, "Those who surrender will not be killed. If you get the head of the main culprit, there will be a reward of a thousand gold coins!"

Upon hearing this, the Wuhuan special forces who had just surrendered excitedly mounted their horses and chased after Dizhi, shooting arrows at the same time. Dizhi's guards naturally drew their bows and fired back, and the two sides fought so hard that Zhang Liao and his men could not tell who was friendly and who was enemy.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Liao ordered his subordinates to step back a little and let them kill each other first. At the same time, he thought to himself that he was extremely lucky this time, as he managed to kill the other Chanyu in a single encounter. Otherwise, he would have to fight again later.

However, the mission on my side has been successfully completed. I just don’t know how the battle is going at Bailang Pass now?

When Dizhi led the remaining 10,000 cavalrymen to Bailang Mountain Pass to meet up with the Xianbei, he found that the situation of the Xianbei cavalry was also extremely bleak.

Suonu's cavalry was locked in the valley passage, and Juluo Hou, who was supposed to attack the Jin army at the valley entrance from the front and back with Suonu, was unable to rescue Suonu because he was being chased by Zhao Yun.

Zhu Luohou was fleeing in front, watching Zhao Yun chasing him closely behind him like a hanging cudgel. He casually drew his gun and stabbed down a Xianbei cavalryman who was trying to launch a sneak attack.

Marquis Juluo now felt as upset as if he had eaten shit. Logically speaking, the number of troops around him was three times that of Zhao Yun, and he should not be chased and beaten like a stray dog.

But the current situation is that the soldiers on the opposite side are full of physical strength, at least 80% to 90% of their peak strength, while the soldiers on their side have not recovered yet, and it would be good if they could have half of their strength.

As one side gained strength while the other lost, the more than 20,000 troops of Zhuluo Hou were no match for Zhao Yun's elite troops. They were chased and fled everywhere, and their formation collapsed. What was even more troublesome was that the Xianzhen Camp had been pushed down from the uphill, and its formation divided the Xianbei cavalry's route into several parts. For a while, the Xianbei were unable to organize an effective counterattack!

When he was thinking about making a desperate attempt, he saw the Jin army issuing an order, and the cavalry and the trap camp gathered together and began to meet up with the Jin army at the valley entrance.

Juluo Hou was confused at first, but then he received a message from a spy saying that the Wuhuan reinforcements were coming. Juluo Hou was relieved, thinking that they were coming too slowly, but in time, and it was his turn to counterattack next!

But the news that followed almost made him vomit blood. Lou Ban was actually killed by the Jin army?
(End of this chapter)