Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 546: Thunder and Fire
Around three o'clock in the morning, all the soldiers in Guanzhong were armed, and even the more than 3,000 auxiliary soldiers recruited and reorganized from Youzhou were wearing armor.

Those auxiliary soldiers who could ride horses rode horses, while those who could not ride horses rode in carriages.

Abandoning the camp, the entire army held torches, forming a dazzling, long and huge fire dragon.

This is no longer a case of suspicion!
In the northwestern mountain stronghold, the Youzhou soldiers have also completed their mobilization.

Xianyu Fu stopped and stared for a moment, then turned around to look at the military officers around him, all of whom had solemn expressions.

Anyone who dares to come down the mountain to attack now, whether you are carrying a torch or sneaking without a torch, will encounter a strong counterattack from the Guanzhong soldiers.

If we lose our camp, going down the mountain to fight is tantamount to seeking death!
"Mingsir, this is a desperate move!"

A military officer sighed in a low voice, which made his attitude very clear.

Xianyu Fu, seeing no one objecting, said, "The reason why Xiang Yu was able to defeat the Qin army in the past was that Zhang Han and Wang Li refused to work together. If our army just stands by and watches, the Xianbei people will be discouraged and the battle will be bad."

No one answered, everyone was silent.

Under their command were relatives, fellow villagers, soldiers and servants; there was no conscription or recruitment of soldiers.

If they are taken away and severely injured, every family will be in mourning.

It would be good if they win this battle, but if not, a large number of young men will die here, countless wealth will disappear, and if they encounter attacks from the Xin Dynasty again, the day of their clan’s extinction is foreseeable.

They watched in silence for a moment, and saw that the huge fire dragon slowly moved four or five miles and was about to reach the central area of ​​the battlefield.

At this time, Xian Yufu made up his mind and called another cousin to say, "Send out a false army, and bring more torches!"

The cousin hesitated, refused to move, and did not say anything to refuse. He just waited, as if Xian Yu Fu had not finished speaking.

After a few breaths, Xian Yufu gritted his teeth and said, "Light the beacon!"

"Here!"

Immediately, the military officer in charge of this matter responded loudly, and Xian Yufu's cousin also bowed and said, "Yes!"

When the beacon was about to be lit, as Zhang Liao had expected, Tian Yu had already led his elite forces to the east bank of the water.

Tian Yu also climbed the mountain to watch. The fire dragon on the opposite bank was moving, and the scene was shocking.

There was no response from the mountainous area where Xian Yufu was, so Tian Yu was worried that Xian Yufu's troops had lost their nerve, so he immediately said to his men, "Order everyone to light fires!"

A dozen knights came down the mountain holding torches. Tian Yu gave another order: "Beat the drums to attract the enemy troops and distract them!"

Following this military order, the war drums deployed in various valleys and river banks began to beat.

But the fire dragon continued to move forward without splitting its forces.

Soon, several wet knights wearing fur coats arrived at the mountain. After dismounting, they walked quickly to Tian Yu.

The mountain wind blew, and the elite soldiers who had just returned from swimming shivered: "General, the enemy camp is empty!"

Another person followed suit and said, "There are no ambushes within three or four miles. The living utensils in the camp are complete and the pots and stoves are still warm."

"He is so arrogant!"

Tian Yu sighed and said to another group of knights on standby: "Tell Mr. Wang, the whole army is on the march! And ask Mr. Wang to urge Tadun to speed up his advance and make sure he crosses the river to join the battle in the afternoon!"

The knights immediately rode away, and Tian Yu led the core team of the central army down the mountain. A large number of leather rafts and straw rafts were piled up in the valley.

In front of the fire dragon array, the huge chariot moved forward slowly.

The black bear looked around, paying no attention to the army holding torches coming down the mountain from the northwest, nor to the countless torches and bonfires that were lit on the east bank of the water.

Seeing the Xianbei people in the north lighting their final campfires in preparation for battle, he turned around and shouted, "Inform the entire army, everything is normal!"

"Yes!"

Fa Zheng and Gao Jun responded in unison, and passed orders to the torch-bearing knights on both sides of the carriage. More than a hundred knights split into two groups, and drove their horses lightly backwards, repeatedly shouting: "Grand Marshal's order, everything is normal, advance in an orderly manner!"

On the west side of the fire dragon, Zhang Fei and Zhang Liao each led hundreds of cavalry to sneak in the dark to act as a guard force.

Meanwhile, at the front line, Lu Bu led more than fifty cavalrymen to attack.

The Xianbei people had already suffered losses due to their simple camp fortifications. Three camps at the mountain pass had long been destroyed, and the remaining camps were on the west side, at the foot of the mountain.

After a day of renovation, it still couldn't withstand their impact.

They easily jumped over the double fences and chevaux de frise, rushed freely in the camp, and disrupted the order of the defenders.

Soon Gao Shun's 100-man team broke into the camp and killed people wantonly. Soon, all the tents in the first camp were set on fire.

In the chaos, a large number of horses escaped from the camp, and then Lu Bu attacked the second camp on the west side. The chariot soldiers led by Yuan Shu arrived almost at the same time, and more than 200 sword, shield and crossbow soldiers assigned to Yuan Shu rushed into the gap in the camp with shields.

The place was guarded by a mixed Hu tribe, whose fighting spirit was already low. They had no time to pack up, and everyone fled on horseback to the darkness in the south.

Before this camp could be set on fire, the third camp fell into chaos before the battle even began.

The noble chieftain could no longer control the tribal herdsmen, and in the chaos they were attacked by Lu Bu.

On the north slope, Ke Bineng grabbed Yan Zhi by the collar, his expression ferocious: "Go and urge Xian Yu Fu! If no reinforcements come to attack the rear of the Guanzhong troops when they attack the mountain, I will lead the troops to withdraw!"

"Yes, don't worry, my king!"

Yan Zhi agreed immediately. He didn't want to stay here, not even for a moment longer!

Seeing Yan Zhi agreed, Ke Bineng shouted at his attendants: "Don't panic! Light the beacon!"

As he gave the order, several huge piles of firewood standing nearby were ignited. The wind fanned the fire, and the straw piles ignited the log towers on top. The heat radiated from the fire waves brought waves of warmth.

Ke Bineng's already dark red face was now illuminated even redder by the firelight.

Yan Zhigang led dozens of his personal cavalry down the mountain and saw the fourth camp near the exit of the mountain road on fire. He was shocked and said, "How could Taishi Wengong's attack be so swift and fierce!"

He reined in his horse and saw some defeated soldiers coming towards the mountain road. He immediately said to his men who were following him: "Follow me and charge down. Don't hold back!"

No one answered, and they all held their spears and made charging gestures. The fleeing soldiers definitely had the motive to steal the horses!

If you say one more word to the fleeing soldiers, it will slow down their horses and they may be pulled off their horses by other fleeing soldiers.

Yan Zhi knew even more clearly that these defeated soldiers could no longer climb the mountain. If they got close, they would be shot and killed by the archers on the mountain!

If the bows and crossbows fail to scare away the fleeing soldiers, the boulders and wooden planks left for the Guanzhong soldiers will also be thrown down!

The Xianbei people in the mountains will never show mercy at this moment!

Yan Zhi showed no mercy. More than fifty cavalrymen trampled on the fleeing soldiers to make a way out. Just as he turned his horses to the west, he saw another large group of cavalry pouring out of the fifth camp and retreating westward without hesitation.

The two sides have a tacit understanding and work in parallel without interfering with each other.

Even though the defenders of the fifth camp were evacuated, Yuan Shu's troops, who mechanically followed orders, still drove to the camp, rushed into the camp with swords and shields, and started setting fire to everything that could be burned.

The five Xianbei camps at the foot of the mountain were so vulnerable that they shook the Youzhou troops in Xishan.

Watching the battle from the mountain, I could directly feel the fierceness of the Guanzhong soldiers' attack and offensive.

The mentality of avoiding war is becoming more unified, and this is no longer something Xianyu Fu can promote.

Soon, Black Bear arrived at the three camps that were captured and burned during the day. The bodies of the Xianbei people here had not been collected and were still piled up in a mess, but many people's tattered leather coats, armor and even underwear had been stripped off.

There are a large number of slaves in the Xianbei tribe, and they would not mind these.

Without his orders, the wagon camps and auxiliary soldiers who arrived one after another began to set up campfires, surrounding the wagons as camps and collecting wood to expand the scale and number of the campfires.

The three thousand Youzhou auxiliary troops who arrived here were dispersed everywhere and obeyed the command of the Guanzhong veterans.

In order to expand the scale of the campfire, these Youzhou auxiliary soldiers even had to endure the discomfort and start carrying the corpses of people and horses.

After a simple harvest of horse meat, the rest was piled on the campfire.

Even if it smells bad, start your campfire right away.

It was approaching four o'clock in the morning and the sky was still dark.

The smell of burning horse fat and horse meat filled the entire camp.

Seeing that the camp was hastily built, Zhang Fei and Zhang Liao led their troops back to the camp and dismounted to rest.

Zhang Fei felt uncomfortable, but when he saw that the fire was burning with the mutilated carcasses of horses, the psychological discomfort immediately subsided.

He felt extremely refreshed and excited, so he ordered the soldiers to rest and feed the horses, and he hurried to see the black bear.

"When will the Grand Marshal attack the mountain?"

"Wait a moment. I have already sent an elite force to cross the mountain and take a detour. We will attack after they attack from the side."

Seeing Zhang Fei's confusion, Black Bear pointed to the vast reed lake in the east and said, "General Yide, have you forgotten that I also have soldiers from Jing and Yi states under my command who are very good at swimming?"

Not to mention swimming across the reeds, even if they were soaked in the water for three days and three nights, they would still be very alive after being dug out.

(End of this chapter)