Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 559: Stuck in the Quagmire
Afternoon, north of the camp.

Under Tian Yu's constant urging and high pressure, the Youzhou rebels broke into the camp like a tide.

Fa Zheng abandoned the northern camp and retreated to the more solid central camp.

Here, relying on the water embankments and ditches, the Youzhou cavalry found it difficult to break through and could only rely on infantry to fight.

Mi Fang was shot in the face. He stood at the flagpole with a sword in hand and shouted, "Shoot! Don't retreat!"

On the flagpole behind him, hung the fresh heads of three Hebei officers, still dripping with bright red blood.

Further behind was Fa Zheng, who was watching the battle with the reserve troops.

Fa Zheng was also very tactful and put on a light leather mask. He leaned on a battle flag with his left hand and held a sword in his right hand, watching quietly.

At this time, Yang Xiu retreated with an arrow in his shoulder, looking around and said, "Sir, there are rioters in the baggage camp!"

Fa Zheng turned his head to look at the western camp. Sure enough, there was a riot in the tent area where the baggage camp was detained. The coolies of the baggage camp, whose hands were tied with leather ropes, were cooperating with each other and fighting with the few guards.

But the leather ropes were tied tightly and they could not break free easily. Even if they defeated the nearby guards, it was difficult to free their hands quickly.

Even if you grab a weapon, you can't hold or use it.

But Lu Cui, who was in charge of that place, was a ruthless character. He actually dispatched a team of crossbowmen to shoot the coolies regardless of whether they were causing trouble or not.

After shooting and killing two or three hundred people, the remaining coolies gave up resistance and crouched on the ground.

But what Fa Zheng did not expect was that Lu Cui allowed the crossbowmen to continue shooting, and after five or six rounds of shooting, he completely killed all the coolies in the baggage camp in the small camp.

The crossbowmen were called back, and the remaining supervisory officers entered with spears and halberds to start finishing off the enemy.

Seeing the finishing blow, Fa Zheng was no longer interested in observing and just looked at the front: "The rebels have been fighting for half a day and their strength is exhausted."

We are not afraid of the rebels continuing to attack, but we are afraid that they will withdraw and be replaced by fresh troops who are better prepared, stronger and more elite.

Both sides in the battle have adapted to each other's rhythm. Although they seem to be fighting fiercely across the pond embankment, they have actually formed a kind of tacit understanding.

Even if the rebel officers organized a strong attack, after a wave of attacks was launched, the defenders would pick out the key members and shoot them, and then launch a strong counterattack, and the other rebels who were forced to attack would be defeated.

When they retreated and fled, the defenders would draw their bows and would not shoot arrows at their buttocks, nor would they leave the pond embankment defense line to pursue them.

Tian Yu stood on a high place and also observed the morale and physical strength of the defenders.

The defenders in the camp now are basically the auxiliary soldiers recruited after Hei Xiong escaped from Feihukou. Later, there was another batch of reorganized auxiliary soldiers in Jixian City. Finally, there are more than 4,000 surrendered soldiers of Xianyu Fu who were left by Zhang Liao and Zhang Fei.

So the ones guarding the camp now are the righteous Youzhou government troops.

"Father!"

Tian Yu suddenly heard a hurried shout, and when he turned around, he saw his son Tian Pengzu pointing behind him: "The Dai soldiers are rebelling!"

Tian Yu turned around to look, and saw a melee breaking out among the Dai County warlords who were retreating and setting up their battle array to the north, but he couldn't see clearly what was going on.

He stared and was about to dispatch troops to suppress the rebellion, but he saw a man and a horse slowly rising from behind a flood-control earthen ridge. Guan Yu drove his horse onto the ridge, wearing an embroidered robe and golden armor, and was less than two miles away from him.

Soon after, more and more knights appeared on both sides of Guan Yu and lined up along the earthen ridge.

Tian Yu's face looked very unnatural. He already knew who was rebelling, it was the Liu family of Dai County, but it was too late to suppress it.

Guan Yu deployed his troops in a horizontal formation, and the people he sent out were unable to arrive smoothly.

The rebellious Liu family, in alliance with some heroes, naturally had a good chance of winning by acting with intent.

At this time, a powerful man came to see Tian Yu and said, "Mingsir, withdraw your troops!"

If we don't withdraw our troops, we will not be able to expel Guan Yu, and we will not be able to stop the Dai soldiers' rebellion.

If the internal rebellion of the Dai soldiers succeeds, Gaoliu Pass will fall into the hands of Liu Bei and Black Bear, and Ma Teng's reinforcements can enter the pass smoothly. The most important thing is to plug the gap and curb Black Bear's reinforcements.

It was getting dark, and it would be difficult to break into the camp if we continued fighting. This was determined by the physical fitness of the soldiers, not because the soldiers were unwilling to fight.

By the time it got darker, not to mention the internal rebellion among the Dai soldiers, just their retreat would be very risky.

"Ming Jin!"

Tian Yu gave the order and immediately looked at his guard captain: "Call up the troops and be on guard against Guan Yu's sudden attack on our camp."

"Here!"

Not only was Tian Yu afraid that Guan Yu would attack his main camp, but the military officers and heroes around him were also very cautious.

From the moment Guan Yu approached the battlefield and suddenly appeared, it became inevitable for Tian Yu to retreat and gather his forces to defend himself.

As for the battle in the south, Tian Yu did not think that there would be any clear results today, but it was highly likely that the Black Bear, who underestimated the enemy, would suffer a loss.

You already have few soldiers, and yet you still have to accept the challenge. If you don’t suffer, who will?

So we have already taken advantage today, and the spy within Daibing has also been exposed... Overall it's not a loss.

Compared with the previous series of passive battles in Xishan Road, Tian Yu felt that he fought quite effectively today.

His mood became much better, and he quietly looked at where Guan Yu was.

He did not think that the rebellious Liu family could succeed quickly. Even if they succeeded by chance, they would definitely suffer a counterattack after dark.

Guan Yu reined in his horse and stood still, quietly watching where Tian Yu was.

He had no intention of actively intervening in the battle. He would rather fight the Wuhuan people. However, Liu Bei was worried that Tian Yu would attack the camp.

As long as Guan Yu appeared, Tian Yu would not dare to attack with all his strength.

It felt like someone was strangling my neck and I was having difficulty breathing. How could I possibly use my full strength?

Just as Tian Yu was withdrawing his troops and gathering his officers and soldiers to restore order, some of the first Hebei knights to retreat fled here.

These Hebei knights did not dare to approach Tian Yu's group directly, and fled northward along the group, but were soon chased by Zhao Yun's cavalry.

When they saw Tian Yuju's troops gathering and forming a formation, they stopped chasing him and also did not retreat. Instead, they dismounted and began to rest, and more and more of them gathered.

Tian Yu felt something was wrong when he saw the cavalry group of several hundred men suddenly retreat into the camp.

Inside the camp, Zhao Yun grabbed a jar of sweet rice wine and drank it slowly in small sips. Sure enough, his strength quickly recovered and his tiredness subsided.

Covered in blood, he finished a jar of rice wine, strode to the spare horse, and waited quietly.

The knights who returned to the camp one after another drank a cup of rice wine, exchanged for spare horses and swords, and handed in their heads for storage.

However, the heads surrendered by Zhao Yun were rather special and needed to be carefully examined.

Fa Zheng brought people to watch, and after confirming Jiao Chu's head, Fa Zheng immediately picked up a pen and signed a receipt for Zhao Yun. This was a huge achievement, enough for the Grand Marshal to ask Zhao Yun to be granted the title of Tinghou.

Although the emperor is gone, the Shangshu Xingtai is still there.

After Zhao Yun got the receipt, he mounted his horse and led the more than 800 riders out of the east gate, winding northward and appearing on Tian Yu's flank.

After Fa Zheng in the camp confirmed Jiao Chu's head, he immediately organized a counterattack and successfully occupied the lost North Camp.

He did not even bother to put out the fire, but sent troops to hang in the south of Tian Yu's group, watching and spying from a close distance, waiting for the opportunity to fight.

Seeing this, Tian Yu simply decided to let the entire army rest on the spot, waiting for dusk or other changes to occur.

(End of this chapter)