Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 982: Half-crossing and attacking
Zhang Yong commanded his men and quickly tied up more than 10,000 Cao's prisoners.

Seeing such a huge victory in front of them, many soldiers were very excited and happy. After all, the imperial court had always been generous in rewarding soldiers in the army, and all merits and demerits would be rewarded and punished clearly.

With such a victory, almost all the soldiers who participated in the war could get a good reward, including money, food, cloth, silk, etc. Many of them with outstanding military achievements could be promoted to higher positions or even become nobles, and thus embark on a smooth road to success and glory for their family.

Many generals walked to Zhang Yong happily, and their faces were all filled with smiles like farmers’ autumn harvest.

"General, this battle was won only because of your unparalleled wisdom and strategy."

"Yes, I heard that Gao Shun has surrounded Ancheng where Cao Cao is. Our Yuzhou Army cannot lose to their Yanzhou Army. With this great victory, even if we can't be one step ahead of them, it is enough to ensure that we will not fall behind."

"Xiahou Yuan has been badly defeated. Let's make a concerted effort to attack Ancheng and join forces with General Gao Shun. Cao Cao will be unable to escape even if he has wings. Once Cao Cao is defeated, Liu Yan, Liu Bei, Sun Jian, Shi Xie and others will also surrender. Then we will be the heroes who unify the world."

"Hehe, Old Blackhead, now that you mention it, I'm really excited. I've been a farmer for 18 generations, and I never dreamed that I would be a great hero in the imperial court."

"Maybe we'll have a chance to go down in history."

The generals were delighted, but although Zhang Yong was also somewhat happy, he was not as excited as them.

A few soldiers were sharp-eyed and seemed to see that Zhang Yong was still worried.

"General, what are you thinking about?"

Zhang Yong was silent for a while, then shook his head and said, "I can't really say. I always feel that Cao Cao will not be wiped out so easily by our army."

"General, why are you sighing like that? No matter how you look at the current situation, Cao Cao is doomed to fail."

"Yes, I really can't think of any chance for him to turn around."

Zhang Yong said, "Don't you think it's a little strange? My third brother was in Shenyang City, facing Cao's army that was several times larger than his, and he actually resisted for so many days. Ask yourself, with such a huge disparity in numbers, being isolated and without help, and most of the food and grass being burned, even if it was me, I would definitely not be able to hold out for so long."

"This..." After hearing this, the generals all understood a little.

Although they respected Cheng Liang very much, they also knew in their hearts that when it came to the ability to command troops and fight, there was a big gap between Cheng Liang and Zhang Yong. If even Zhang Yong couldn't hold on, how could Cheng Liang possibly do it?
"Could it be that... General, you are saying that this is part of Cao's conspiracy?"

"That's right." Zhang Yong nodded: "I just understood it too. In my previous panic, I only cared about my third brother's danger and ignored this point. Now that I think about it, it's really unusual."

"General... General Zhang..."

A voice came from a distance. Zhang Yong and others looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man on horseback galloping from the northwest.

Deputy General Chen Lie took a look at the flag on the man's back and his face changed: "It's the garrison of Shangcai County."

When Zhang Yong heard this, his hands couldn't help but tense up, and the water bag he had just taken out of use was instantly deformed.

When the soldier ran to him, Chen Lie rushed up to him and asked, "What happened in Shangcai County?"

The soldier was panting heavily: "Cao...Cao's army attacked...At noon today, no less than one...one hundred thousand soldiers suddenly appeared...outside the city..."

"More than 100,000 Cao troops? Impossible!" Chen Lie directly denied this statement.

"That's right. There are only a few hundred thousand Cao soldiers in Yuzhou. Half of them went to besiege Shenyang City. The rest were divided into two groups. One group stayed in the city and is fighting with General Gao at the moment. The other group was just defeated by us. How could more than 100,000 Cao soldiers fall from the sky and appear at our base camp?"

"I...every word I said is true..."

"Nonsense! How dare you disturb the morale of the army? Come, drag this guy away and subject him to military law."

"Ah... General, please spare me... General, please spare me..."

The soldier's face turned pale instantly. He spread rumors and disrupted the morale of the army. According to military regulations, he should be executed immediately.

"Slow down." Zhang Yong suddenly stopped them.

"General, this fellow..." A general was about to explain, but Zhang Yong said, "He should be right."

"How is this possible? How did Cao's army have more than 100,000 soldiers and horses?" All the generals looked incredulous.

Zhang Yong looked to the northwest: "Cai Mao's 150,000 Jingzhou troops have been stationed in Nanyang for quite some time, right?"

When he said this, all the generals took a deep breath: "Could it be... But... But how could this be..."

"One hundred and fifty thousand troops, how can Shangcai withstand this?"

The soldiers began to panic.

However, Zhang Yong's eyes became more fierce at this moment: "Cao Cao, is this your real method? Well, my brother often said that you are a master of war, like Sun Wu reincarnated, and repeatedly reminded us not to underestimate the enemy. Now that it has come to this, let's fight."

Then, he raised his axe high and said, "Pass the order down, the entire army will retreat and rush back to Shangcai County overnight."

"As ordered!"

All the generals retreated and prepared to withdraw, but Zhang Yong called the soldier from Shangcai City over. After asking him a few questions, a look of understanding appeared on his face.

In the early hours of the morning, just as dawn was breaking, there was a tense atmosphere inside and outside Shangcai City.

Although Cai Mao did not succeed in yesterday's battle, he still caused heavy casualties to the tens of thousands of defenders in Shangcai City. In addition, this city was just an ordinary small county town and the city walls were not high enough. After a fierce battle, the city walls and gates had been damaged in many places.

Twenty miles outside the city, there is a huge military camp, located between two rows of hills, which just blocks the road between the two mountains. At the same time, there are many outposts on the top of the hills on both sides to look into the distance.

Just by looking at the layout of this military camp, it can be seen that the commander here is not only a famous general, but he is definitely not an ordinary person.

In the general tent of the military camp, Cai Mao had just got up. He rubbed his eyes and stretched. Soldiers appeared at the door and brought him some clean water.

He was washing up when a tall general with a pair of rat eyes and a shifty look came in, opening the curtain.

"General Cai, I greet you."

As soon as the man came in, he bowed deeply to Cai Mao.

Cai Mao yawned and waved at him: "Alright, Hu Che'er, I know you are loyal, so there is no need for these empty formalities. Tell me about the situation on the city wall."

"Yes." Hu Che'er nodded and said, "The enemy guards on the city wall are changed regularly, and they look orderly, without any signs of chaos. Moreover, the city gates were reinforced and repaired last night. If we continue to attack today, I'm afraid it will be difficult to succeed." Cai Mao narrowed his eyes and said, "They are worthy of being trained by Zhang Yong. Even if Zhang Yong is not here, they can still have such combat power. They really can't be underestimated."

"Hehe, so what? Even if Zhang Yong himself were here, how could he be able to defeat General Cai's might?"

Hu Che'er had a fawning smile on his face.

"Hey, we are all under the command of the lord, and we only rely on the lord's power."

Although Cai Mao said this, his excited expression betrayed his inner thoughts.

"Zhang Yong, Zhang Yong, everyone says that you are one of the best generals in the world, but I, Cai Mao, don't believe it. My lord has given me such an important position this time, I will definitely defeat you to prove that I, Cai Mao, am no less capable than the Xiahou brothers and Cao Ren."

To withdraw to Shangcai City from the Taohe area, one only needs to march upstream along the Ru River.

Zhang Yong led his army and traveled all night, and by noon they arrived less than 40 miles outside Shangcai City.

"General, after crossing this shallow ford, go to the ferry ahead, cross the Ru River, and go forward for more than 20 miles, and you will reach Shangcai City."

Chen Lie pointed to the road ahead and explained to Zhang Yong.

"Well, pass the order down, cross the river in batches, and don't panic. The Ru River is not like the Tao River. The water here is deep and fast. Once you fall into the water, there will be no way to save you."

Although everyone was familiar with this place, Zhang Yong still gave a reminder.

The army quickly escorted the more than 10,000 surrendered Cao soldiers across the shallows in front of them. Not long after, they arrived at a ferry.

On the river in front of the ferry, there were dozens of large and small boats, as well as some bamboo rafts.

Many generals, commanding their soldiers, boarded boats and bamboo rafts one after another and floated to the center of the river.

"General, please." After Chen Lie jumped onto a slightly larger boat, he took over the oars himself and invited Zhang Yong to get on board.

"Yeah." Zhang Yong seemed to look around casually, then jumped onto the boat.

The first batch of soldiers were quickly transported to the other side of the river. Zhang Yong and many other soldiers became the second batch to cross the river. When their boats just reached the center of the river, there were suddenly loud gongs and drums and waving flags on both sides of the Ru River.

"Kill it..."

"Capture Zhang Yong alive..."

At the same time, a group of soldiers rushed out from both sides, and it seemed that there were no less than ten thousand people.

"Another ambush?" The Han army soldiers were a little surprised, but they had seen many ambushes before, so they did not panic.

The leading enemy general rode out, pointed his spear at Zhang Yong on the river, and shouted, "Zhang Yong, I am Wen Pin of Nanyang. I have been ordered to ambush you here. I cannot bear to harm you because of your reputation. If you are willing to surrender, I will never hurt you in the slightest."

However, Zhang Yong was standing on the boat without any surprise. He looked at Wen Pin and replied, "You are Wen Pin, Wen Zhongye?"

Wen Pin was stunned. "How do you know my name? Although I had a little fame in Jingzhou, it was never as famous as you are."

Zhang Yong smiled and said, "It's very simple. Not only do I know your name, but I also know that the commander of the attack on Shangcai City this time is Shangcai Mao, and you are his deputy general. Also, the commander of the other ambush troops across the river is named Su Fei, with the courtesy name Jiyun, and is from Jiangxia. You two are both generals under Cai Mao, and when you were young, you were friends with the Jinfan thief Gan Ning, and you have repeatedly recommended Gan Ning to Cai Mao and others, but they are proud of their famous family background and look down on Gan Ning, who was born as a pirate, and refused to accept him. Last time, Huang Zu was attacked by Gan Ning and then defeated by Zhou Yu. You two were implicated and demoted for no reason. It was not until this time when the army was dispatched that you were able to go with the army again."

"You...you...how do you know so much..."

Wen Pin and Su Fei were so shocked that they even forgot they were there to ambush.

A letter rolled up into a paper tube slipped quietly from the palm of Zhang Yong's hand behind his back and fell into the river.

He did not answer their doubts, but looked at their army and said with a smile: "Attack when the enemy is halfway across the river, well, Cai Mao is quite capable."

Wen Pin and Su Fei only then realized that they were ambushed. The other side was not panicking, so why were they the first to panic?
Wen Pin pretended to be calm and said, "Yes, your army has been divided into three parts by the river, and there are many surrendered soldiers in the army. Humph, even if you have great abilities, you will not be able to escape defeat this time."

"Oh? Is that so?" Zhang Yong raised his eyebrows, making Wen Pin and Su Fei feel very uncomfortable in their hearts, as if something was pressing on their chests and making them unable to breathe.

"Do you really think that my great reputation as Zhang Yong just fell from the sky? A mere Cai Mao dares to challenge me. He really doesn't know how to live or die. Don't you know how Xiahou Yuan was defeated last night? This time, I will let you see for yourself what it means to be 'a man of great reputation is not a false person.'"

Wen Pin couldn't help but feel nervous when he heard his firm and confident tone.

"General Xiahou Yuan? Ah... yes, I heard that General Xiahou ambushed Zhang Yong in Shilin. Now Zhang Yong appears here, and there are many of our prisoners. So General Xiahou's ambush must have failed. What happened here?"

Although Wen Pin had seen the captives in the enemy army early on, he did not think too much about it when the ambush was about to be launched. In addition, Xiahou Yuan's defeat happened only four or five hours ago, and even Cai Mao had just received the news in the early morning. Things were hurried, and he did not explain too clearly to Wen Pin and others.

As a result, Wen Pin and Su Fei became more surprised and puzzled, and their hearts beat faster involuntarily.

However, Wen Pin was also a veteran, and he quickly calmed down.

"Don't panic, the enemy is just posturing to buy time. Soldiers, follow me and kill them!"

At Wen Pin's command, he swung his spear and started charging towards the Han army.

However, the Han troops on both sides of the river stayed where they were, motionless, with no sign of forming a battle line to fight the enemy.

But the more they did this, the more uneasy Wen Ping felt: "What exactly is Zhang Yong up to? Does he really have some magic weapon or secret weapon to win?"

Just as he was wondering, he suddenly heard a loud and clear horn sound, resounding through the sky.

“Woohoo… woohoo…”

Wen Pin instinctively became alert and hurriedly stopped his horse: "Stop, everyone stop!"

As soon as he gave this order, the armies on both sides that were charging hurriedly stopped.

All the Cao army soldiers looked around in confusion. Whether it was Wen Pin, Su Fei, or the other soldiers, they all seemed to be at a loss.

"Where is he? What methods does he have?"

Almost everyone was on high alert, looking around, fearing that an enemy force might suddenly appear from a corner that they had not noticed, preventing them from ambush and instead being ambushed themselves.

(End of this chapter)