Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1265 Return to the Army
Over there, Zhu Luohou rode forward upon hearing this and shouted, "Are you Gao Shun?"

"If you open the city now, I can advise Lord Kobinen to make you the Xianbei King!"

"No matter how much Jin gives you, I, Xianbei, can give you more!"

Gao Shun laughed and said, "You barbarians, do you know the ethics, integrity, loyalty, and honesty of the Central Plains?"

"Stop talking nonsense. If you don't surrender, just attack the city and show me what you can do!"

Zhu Luohou had a gloomy face and said to the enemy: "The Jin army will soon catch up with us. If we don't have Liucheng, we will have no way to go in the ice and snow. Now we can only fight to the death and attack the city immediately!"

Seeing that Dizhi was still hesitant, he shouted in a low voice, "You have no way out. There is Tadun in Wuhuan, he will definitely not let you go!"

"Only by taking down Liucheng and driving away the Jin army can you integrate the Wuhuan tribe. I, Xianbei, will fully support you in ascending the throne of Chanyu!"

After hearing this, Dizhi thought for a while and made a decision. He gritted his teeth and said, "Okay!"

"I hope the king will help me and attack Liucheng with all our strength. We only have one hour!"

Zhu Luohou shouted: "Good!"

"Let's fight them!"

A brutal siege immediately broke out in all directions of Liucheng. The city guards of Liucheng were not very tall, only more than ten feet high, so the Xianzhen Camp could break into the city so easily, but on the other hand, this naturally increased the difficulty of defense.

The more than 1,000 troops led by Gao Shun to defend the four city walls were soon overwhelmed. They had to face enemies that were several times their number. Even if they killed them, the people behind them would quickly climb up the city walls.

Gao Shun saw this and said to Tadun: "Call all your personal soldiers up, and tell the Wuhuan soldiers under the city that any Wuhuan who defect will be forgiven, otherwise they will be severely punished after the battle, including their families in the city!"

When Tadun heard this, he shouted loudly. The Wuhuan soldiers who were attacking the city immediately panicked. Many of them slowed down their weapons and let the Xianbei people stand in front of them.

When Suonu, who was personally leading the battle, saw this, he also became furious and shouted and cursed loudly. The Wuhuan soldiers became even more dissatisfied after hearing this, and the momentum of their siege immediately slowed down.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Dizhi led his men to attack and shouted, "Tadun betrayed Chanyu Louban and defected to the Han people. He wants us to destroy the Wuhuan tribe!"

"Why should we Wuhuan people serve as dogs for the Han people?"

"The only way for us Wuhuan people is to kill all the Han people in the north and establish our own Wuhuan nation!"

"Follow me and kill them all!"

When the other Wuhuan soldiers saw this, they shouted loudly. In a moment, the city walls were covered with people. More than 20,000 people surrounded Liucheng tightly. Looking down from the sky, the whole city looked like a piece of honey covered with ants.

Gao Shun saw that the time had come and shouted, "Throw all the explosive bamboo tubes out!"

After hearing this, the soldiers took out the bamboo tubes they had carried with them. The main force of the Xianzhen Camp carried six bamboo tubes each, which were not used when attacking the city. Now the Wuhuan and Xianbei soldiers under the city became the best targets. Almost at the same time, thousands of bamboo tubes were thrown out and exploded under the city wall.

The rumbling sounds were incessant, accompanied by the terrified screams of the Xianbei and Wuhuan soldiers. They were knocked down by the flames and iron bullets, and many of them lost their lives on the spot. Most of the rest fell to the ground with wounds, and piles of dead bodies appeared under the city.

Suonu and Dizhi were also injured by the explosion and were carried back. Suonu was blinded in one eye and his face was covered in blood. He reported to Zhuluo Hou: "Your Majesty, their bamboo tubes are too powerful. Most of the soldiers are injured. We really can't defeat them!"

Ju Luohou had a gloomy face. He had fought with the Jin army before and had seen these exploding bamboo tubes to some extent, but at that time they were all cavalry battles in the field and the bamboo tubes were not very effective, so the Jin army rarely used them. He did not expect that today he would be attacking the city and the other side would take the opportunity to use them on a large scale!
He asked aloud: "What about the resistance?"

Zonu said: "His leg was injured by the explosion and he is bandaging it!"

"The Jin army is coming soon, what should we do?"

After hearing this, Zhu Luohou knew that Di Zhi was probably hopeless, so he made a quick decision and said, "Let's go."

Suonu was stunned. Where to go?
Zhu Luohou said: "First go to the northeast, to the territory of the Gongsun family, then go to Goguryeo, or go to the Eastern Xianbei Suli."

Suonu hesitated and said, "But if they are colluding with Xionghu..."

Zhu Luohou said decisively: "That's better than dying here!"

"The Jin army will not let us go, because they are not afraid of Lord Kobineng. The Suli and Gongsun families will at least be wary!"

"Pass my order, go!" Just as Zonu was about to answer, overwhelming shouts of killing came from the side and rear. It was the Jin army chasing them!
Zhu Luohou shouted, "Leave now. It's night and they can't see us. With so many people, at least half of them can escape!"

However, what happened next became his nightmare.

Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao arrived with their troops. The Xianbei cavalry were preparing to escape under the cover of darkness. Although there was moonlight in the sky, as long as they escaped a few dozen steps, the cavalry would shrink on their horses and become a blurred outline, making them impossible to distinguish, let alone shoot arrows at.

Then the fleeing Wuhuan and Xianbei cavalry encountered a scene that they would never forget in their lives. Among the Jin cavalry, people kept shooting rockets into the sky, illuminating a large area of ​​the night sky and the ground below. The rockets went up one after another, and there were always more than a dozen rockets lighting up the sky.

Under such circumstances, the fleeing Xianbei and Wuhuan cavalry had nowhere to hide. They were already exhausted from the attack on Liucheng, and now both men and horses were exhausted. They were soon caught up and killed by the Jin cavalry.

At this time, Qu Bei, who had been following Zhuge Liang in the rear army, finally arrived with the Southern Xiongnu cavalry.

The reason why these soldiers were not allowed to attack together with the Jin cavalry was that after consideration, Zhuge Liang found that these Southern Xiongnu cavalry were not good at tough battles and their morale would easily collapse, which in turn affected the formation of their own soldiers.

So Zhuge Liang let these cavalrymen conserve their strength until the mountain pass was opened during the day, and then released them to pursue the Xianbei and Wuhuan coalition forces. Now these people arrived only half a minute later than Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun, and immediately joined the pursuit.

They were now in their prime, and since they had been enemies with the Xianbei for generations, they were even more ruthless. They would not leave anyone alive with their arrows, and would surround and kill anyone they saw dressed in Xianbei attire. Wherever they went, there were the headless corpses of the Xianbei cavalry.

He encountered the chaos and fled with the Wuhuan soldiers on one limp, but ran into Zhao Yun head-on, who stabbed him to death under his horse. After his death, the Wuhuan lost their will to escape. They watched the Xianbei cavalry who were desperately trying to escape being caught up and shot to death, and they all dismounted and knelt in surrender.

As a result, there were only more than ten thousand Xianbei cavalry left on the field, and they were constantly being hunted down by the Jin army. Zhu Luohou spat out a mouthful of blood as he watched the number of people around him continue to decrease.

When he entered the Pass, there were hundreds of thousands of troops. Excluding the old, young, women and children who were abandoned by him, the remaining elite Xianbei soldiers had only fought for more than two months, and only these few were left!
Moreover, even with these few people, it is still unknown whether they can escape this time!

Seeing that Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao were leading their troops to encircle him, he fled even more desperately. Now his entire army had been wiped out, and he didn't care how many people he could take with him. The most important thing now was to escape back to the outside of the Great Wall, find Kobe to apologize, and then lead his troops to avenge his previous humiliation!
The Jin army chased them all night long. By dawn, only Ju Luohou and Suonu escaped with less than a thousand people. The rest were surrounded and killed by Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun's cavalry, and Zhuge Liang who rushed back.

Looking at the corpses of Xianbei soldiers scattered all over the ground, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Zhuge Liang rode into Liucheng and saw that all the generals were waiting. He smiled and congratulated them, saying, "Generals, you have made great achievements this time and stopped the foreign invaders. Your names will go down in history."

The generals hurriedly spoke up to humbly give way. Zhao Yun said, "They let the Marquis of Zhuluo escape. They may be trying to flee to the Gongsun family's territory three or four hundred miles away, and then go outside the pass. Should we chase them?"

Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and said, "Don't chase them, so as not to arouse the distrust of the Gongsun family."

"Besides, we have been fighting for days and our soldiers are tired. It is not worth it to lose a few hundred people."

He came before Tadun and said, "I already know about the Wuhuan. Your loyalty is commendable. I will definitely go back and report to the king."

"The king has given me the power to make arbitrary decisions. You will continue to serve as Chanyu until the king issues a formal order."

Tadun immediately accepted the order and thanked him. Then he heard Zhuge Liang say, "It is unlikely that the Gongsun family will stand on the side of the Xianbei. But just in case, I will leave soldiers to guard the Xuwu Pass, which is more than 200 miles away from here. If you encounter any problems here, you can go there for help."

Only then did Tadun feel relieved. This distance gave Wuhuan full autonomy, and it was obvious that they trusted him quite a bit. However, a thought also arose in Tadun's mind.

Liucheng may be the site of several forces in the future, especially the battlefield when the Xianbei march south. Am I going to stay here for the rest of my life?

Moreover, his relationship with the Yuan family had become much weaker because of the murder of his wife. When he got old, what would happen to the Wuhuan?
Thinking of this, he said in a deep voice: "Tadun did not do his job well this time, and Wuhuan cannot stand alone. If he makes a mistake again next time, I will not be able to see the king."

Zhuge Liang understood what he meant and said, "I will lead the army to rest here for two days, and then return to Jicheng. I will report the situation here to the king truthfully."

After hearing this, Tadun hurriedly thanked him. Zhuge Liang led his generals into the city to clean up the remnants of Lou Ban. All those involved were dealt with according to the law. Two days later, everything in the city was settled, and Zhuge Liang led his generals on their return journey.

On his way back, he stationed troops at Bailang Mountain Pass and Xuwu Mountain Pass respectively. At the same time, he wrote a letter to Yuan Xi in Yijing, reporting the great victory. Seven or eight days later, Yuan Xi received Zhuge Liang's letter. After reading the contents, he finally felt relieved.

Going to war in winter this time was truly a life-threatening situation. Although the letter downplayed the situation, Yuan Xi could still see the many dangers involved. It can be said that if he had been a little careless, the result would not be what it is today.

But Zhuge Liang thought everything through and nipped all these dangerous signs in the bud. As a result, the risks of fighting in the cold winter fell entirely on the Xianbei and Wuhuan coalition forces. After being defeated they could not escape and could only die in the ice and snow.

Yuan Xi didn’t know whether Kobe would make a comeback next year, but after seeing the tragic end of the winter invasion, he would probably have a lot of concerns, right?

This battle caused considerable damage to the Jin army, with many people freezing to death or suffering from frostbite. But overall, the casualties were lower because of the protective measures they had taken. However, Zhuge Liang also knew that the soldiers needed rest, so he gave up the pursuit and let the soldiers return home as soon as possible.

As for the Marquis of Zhuluo who fled to the territory of the Gongsun family, Yuan Xi didn't care about him. These people could not cause any trouble. Instead, he could use this opportunity to see the attitude of the Gongsun family.

(End of this chapter)