Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1264 Stealing a Home
When Zhuluo Hou heard the news of Lou Ban's death and then saw the Wuhuan cavalry fleeing in the distance, he immediately knew that something bad was going to happen.

The fighting spirit of the Hu cavalry all depends on the royal tent. Now that the Chanyu has been killed, the Wuhuan cavalry has not collapsed, which is already a miracle.

But although this shows that the prestige of the successor is not low, no matter how high his prestige is, it is not higher than that of the Chanyu. In other words, the reason why the Wuhuan cavalry can still be formed now is mostly due to the desire to escape. If they are frustrated by the enemy again, they will turn into a complete defeat.

That would be fine, but the key is that the Wuhuan cavalry’s hope is on the battle situation on their side, but the Xianbei are already busy taking care of themselves, so how can they have the energy to care about the Wuhuan?
Moreover, if the Wuhuan were defeated, it would certainly affect the Xianbei side. Zhu Luohou could even be sure that the Jin army had already planned this and was driving the two sides together, waiting for the opportunity!
He knew that he had to make a decision now. Now it was impossible to break through the Bailang Mountain Passage. The only way to preserve his strength was to return to Liucheng to defend, force back the Jin army, and then take his time!

Thinking of this, he immediately ordered someone to blow the horn to let the Zonu in the valley break out, and at the same time ordered his men to attack the Qianzhao infantry at the White Wolf Pass.

When Suonu heard the horn, he immediately rushed towards the mountain pass. Juluohou's tens of thousands of cavalry also took turns to attack. Qian Zhao's several thousand infantry were at a disadvantage in numbers and gradually lost the support under the attack from both sides. Seeing this, Zhao Yun had to abandon Juluohou and lead his troops to attack the valley entrance to rescue Qian Zhao.

At this time, Zhuge Liang led the rear army to press forward. The Suonu army had more than ten thousand soldiers, but now they had suffered thousands of casualties, leaving only six or seven thousand people. Originally, Zhuge Liang and Qian Zhao had compressed the remaining soldiers of Suonu into a passage of seven or eight miles in the valley, but Zhuge Liang saw that Qian Zhao was attacked from both sides and the pressure was too great, so he decisively fired rockets to let Qian Zhao open the valley entrance and let some of the Suonu army out.

When Qian Zhao saw this, although he was unwilling, he had to obey the military order and move out. When Suonu saw this, he was overjoyed and quickly led the vanguard troops to run out. As a result, just as Suonu and one or two thousand people ran out, there was another rocket from the other side. Qian Zhao actually led his men to seal the valley entrance again!

Qian Zhao had already left the valley at this time. Seeing that there were only three or four thousand people left inside, he knew that he had been tricked. He almost vomited blood, but now he could not turn back to save people, so he had to rush towards the central army of Zhu Luohou.

The space for the remaining three or four thousand Xianbei soldiers over there was getting smaller and smaller due to the compression by Qian Zhao and Zhuge Liang. The cavalry could not even turn around smoothly, let alone speed up their horses. Most of them were forced to dismount and fight on foot.

The Jin army used bows and crossbows to attack without hesitation. Under the dense rain of arrows, the Xianbei soldiers were shot to the ground one after another. The remaining ones were forced to hide behind their horses and struggle to hold on.

Suonu met Juluohou and told him about his experience in the valley. Juluohou almost fell off his horse when he heard that Suonu had only brought out 2,000 men, and half of the other 8,000 were killed or injured, with the rest still waiting for rescue in the valley. So many people, just disappeared in the blink of an eye?
In response to Suonu's suggestion to rescue people, Zhu Luohou made a decision in an instant and said, "It's impossible to save them. If we go to the valley entrance, we will only fall into the Jin army's trap. Let's go now!"

"Meet up with Wuhuan first and then return to Liucheng!"

At a command from Juluo Hou, the Xianbei cavalry immediately turned around and rushed back the way they came to meet the Wuhuan cavalry, braving the arrows of Zhao Yun's cavalry.

On the other side, Dizhi was panicking and leading the remaining Wuhuan cavalry to seek help from Zhuluo Hou, hoping that the two sides would join forces to repel the Jin army. However, he saw the scene of the Xianbei fleeing in defeat before he even reached the Bailang Pass, and his mind was in chaos.

He told Juluohou how Louban was killed. Juluohou pondered for a moment and said, "You said that there were only a thousand people who assassinated Chanyu Louban?"

Dizhi showed a look of shame on his face, "No one expected that they would appear in the rear army. I was careless for a moment, which led to the ambush and death of the Chanyu..."

Zhu Luohou immediately said: "Now that things have come to this, there is no need to say anything more. We will rush back to Liucheng and rely on the city defense for defense."

"If those cavalrymen take advantage of the opportunity to capture Liucheng, we will never be able to return home!"

At that moment, everyone rushed back while resisting the pursuit of Zhao Yun's cavalry. Di Zhi followed Zhu Luohou and said hesitantly: "Although the wall of Liucheng is not high, they still cannot capture Liucheng with these cavalry, right?"

Zhu Luohou said in a deep voice: "That being said, I always have a bad feeling."

"Since the battle with the Jin army began, the opponent's moves have been unexpected. I am now afraid that something unexpected will happen."

At this moment, there were shouts and screams coming from the front. Everyone was startled. Then they heard the spy report that the cavalry that killed Lou Ban was catching up with them.

After asking for the exact number, Zhu Luohou heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Since more than a thousand people from the opposite side have chased us, they must not have gone to attack Liucheng."

"Now that we have joined forces, we still have more than 20,000 people. They can't stop us. Just charge forward!"

Upon hearing this, Dizhi quickly ordered his men to cooperate with the cavalry of Zhuluo Hou, and both sides launched a surprise attack on the pursuing Zhang Liao cavalry. Although Zhang Liao's cavalry were all elite, they had to temporarily avoid the enemy's attack due to the absolute numerical pressure from the opposite side. Seeing this, Zhuluo Hou quickly led his army to rush forward.

Zhao Yun was chasing closely behind, but ran into Zhang Liao who had come around. The two of them were chasing and discussing the battle situation. When Zhao Yun heard that Zhang Liao had successfully killed Lou Ban, he said, "Congratulations! Wen Yuan was the first to achieve the victory in this battle."

"It was me who failed to stop the Xianbei army. I failed at the last moment."

Zhang Liao said modestly: "Liao just took advantage of the situation unexpectedly. Brother Zhao is facing the main force here, so naturally he is under great pressure."

"Do we still need to wait for the military advisor now?"

Zhao Yun shook his head and said, "No more waiting. We can't give the other side a chance to catch their breath." At the Bailang Pass, Zhuge Liang and Qian Zhao wiped out the remaining three to four thousand Xianbei cavalry. When the two sides met, Qian Zhao said, "I didn't fight well and let the Xianbei generals run away with some people."

Zhuge Liang said: "It's not your fault, it was my order."

"If we push them into a corner, they will fight back like a trapped beast, and many more of us will die."

Qian Zhao saw that they had been fighting for most of the day and now that night was about to fall, he said, "Should we rest now or give chase?"

Zhuge Liang said decisively: "I have brought all the mules and horses outside the valley. All those who can mount horses should be mounted. If we rush to Liucheng now, it will be too late."

Juluo Hou and Dizhi ran all the way without caring about the rear army. People kept falling behind and were caught up and killed by Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao. The two sides were more than ten miles apart from beginning to end. Seeing this, Juluo Hou did not dare to stop and just ordered his subordinates to speed up as much as possible.

He is now unable to confront the Jin army head-on, and his soldiers are already exhausted to the extreme. Now he can only return to Liucheng to stop the Jin army. As long as he holds on for ten days or half a month, the Jin army will naturally not be able to survive the severe cold and will have to retreat!
The sun set, the moon rose, and the clear sky was filled with stars, but Zhuluo Houdizhi and others had no intention of appreciating it. They now had only one thought, which was to rush back at all costs!

The moon was at its zenith, and the outline of Liucheng finally appeared before their eyes. Zhu Luohou and his men all breathed a sigh of relief. Dizhi immediately led his men to ride forward and knock on the city gate, shouting, "I am the Chanyu's army, Dizhi, open the gate quickly!"

However, there was a loud bang, and arrows rained down from the top of the city, shooting down the Dizhi cavalry one after another. Dizhi was shocked and angry, and shouted: "What are you doing?"

"Light the fire and look carefully, I am not the Jin army, I am the resistance army!"

Torches lit up on the top of the city wall, and a tall general appeared under the firelight, laughing and saying, "You are indeed not from the Jin army, but I am!"

"I am Gao Shun, a general under the King of Jin. I have captured Liucheng after you left the city. Now this city belongs to the King of Jin!"

"I advise you to surrender quickly, or you will die!"

After hearing this, the soldiers on the city wall also waved their flags and shouted. For a moment, the sound from the city wall was deafening.

Di Zhi turned pale upon seeing this, and murmured, "Impossible, how is it possible?"

Another person appeared beside Gao Shun. It was Tadun. He shouted, "Dizhi, you deceived the Chanyu, colluded with the Xianbei, caused the Wuhuan to strife, and led our people to death. You deserve to be put to death!"

When Dizhi saw Tadun, he suddenly seemed to have figured something out and said, "So it turned out that your accomplice in the city surrendered the city, and that's why the Angjin army took Liucheng. No wonder!"

Tadun sneered, "Dizhi, you are just talking nonsense. This city was captured by General Gao!"

"After you left, General Gao led his troops to attack the city, and it only took half an hour to capture Liucheng!"

After hearing this, Dizhi said in disbelief: "It's impossible, he..."

He suddenly thought of Zhang Liao's cavalry ambush on Lou Ban, and then he understood completely that since the enemy could ambush cavalry, they could certainly ambush infantry. They were lurking near Liucheng, waiting for his army to leave the city, so he took the opportunity to attack Liucheng!"

Dizhi guessed correctly this time. Gao Shun personally led thousands of soldiers to ambush on the hillside, just like Zhang Liao. They waited for Lou Ban and Dizhi to leave the city and walk dozens of miles away. When Lou Ban was attacked, they started to attack Liucheng at the same time.

The Xianzhen Camp on the slope of Bailang Mountain before were just new recruits trained by Gao Shun in the past two years, while those he personally led were the real veterans of the Xianzhen Camp, all of whom had participated in the Battle of Jinyang.

These veterans were familiar with sieges in winter. With the help of special ice skates, they concealed their bodies and arrived at the foot of the city. They climbed to the top of the city in a very short time, killed the unsuspecting Wuhuan defenders, and occupied the city wall of Liucheng.

On the contrary, when they were attacking the city from the city wall, they encountered some obstacles. The cavalry of the Wuhuan defenders caused them some trouble. But as Tadun was released and summoned his old subordinates to support him, the remnants of the army loyal to Lou Ban were quickly suppressed, allowing Gao Shun's army to completely control Liucheng.

What Gao Shun was worried about at the beginning was that the Wuhuan would turn around and return for help in advance, but the Wuhuan never returned from beginning to end. He was afraid that they either did not receive the news or encountered trouble. Gao Shun was naturally happy to continue waiting. It was not until the evening that he encountered the Xianbei Wuhuan returning army and blocked them under Liucheng.

Gao Shun ordered his soldiers to draw their bows and draw their arrows, and shouted: "You have no way to escape, surrender quickly, otherwise when the army arrives, you will all be torn into pieces!"

(End of this chapter)