My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 521 Xiahou Yuan's Army Collapses

The first line of defense of Cao's army was taken down by the exquisite cooperation of Zhang Fei and Wang Ping, one normal and one unconventional.

After suffering thousands of casualties, Cao's army retreated miserably to the second line of defense.

Although they had killed and wounded many soldiers of Liu Bei's army in the fierce battle just now, relying on their superiority and heavy troops to overcome armor, they made up for the advantage of Liu Bei's army's well-equipped equipment. But in the end, they lost their position, and the losses were greater than Liu Bei's army.

This was a further blow to the morale of Cao's army and was extremely serious.

What Cao's army lacks most now is morale.

After all, before the battle even started, Pang Tong had people shouting and cursing, repeatedly publicizing Xiahou Yuan's glorious deeds of defeating four strategies in just ten days. Cao's soldiers were all in a shadow, and if Xiahou Yuan could lead them to win at least for a while, then everyone might be able to regain their courage and believe that Pang Tong was just talking nonsense.

But Xiahou Yuan couldn't even win this battle, and was actually behind Liu Bei and Pang Tong in tactical deployment. The courage of his men had almost disappeared.

Xiahou Yuan was also aware of this situation, so after the front-line troops retreated to the second line of defense, he immediately inspected the situation in person and gave encouragement to all the officers above the rank of Quchang and Tunchang who had retreated.

Xiahou Yuan's words were also very concise and he spoke very quickly: "Don't panic! We were just caught off guard by the tactics of those Bantun Barbarians! Now Liu Bei's potential has been exhausted. We can definitely hold on if we retreat to the second antler!
Remember this time, as long as Liu Bei piles the door panels and wood rafts on the wall, you must do your best to push them down! Don't be afraid of the enemy's crossbows! Even if you leave a single piece of wood on the wall, those barbarians can climb up!

These barbarians have no discipline, and they fight based on their bravery. As long as we hold out for this wave and wait for them to scatter on their own, we won't have to worry about them anymore!"

Xiahou Yuan rode his horse to patrol the camp and gave a speech loudly, which soon made him dry-mouthed. However, the propaganda effect was obvious, and the troops who had just retreated were quickly reassured, at least on the surface.

The Cao army under his command had fought with the Bandun Barbarians many times and had an understanding of their fighting power. Once Xiahou Yuan reminded them, they generally believed it.

Cao's army felt that the Bantun barbarians were easy to bully, not because they were not brave enough or had poor skills and tactics. On the contrary, these barbarians were very violent in terms of individual combat and bravery. What they lacked was discipline and resilience, and they liked to bully the weak and feared the strong.

Moreover, for many years, the Bandunman have been working as mercenaries for the Han court in exchange for money. They have no loyalty at all and will only work for whoever pays them.

This type of mercenary is precisely the representative of those with high technical and tactical levels but weak willpower. They don't know who they are fighting for or why they are fighting. As long as they can't find an easy target and suffer heavy casualties, they will immediately retreat.

Nothing to fear!

With this mentality, the Cao army soldiers soon faced a new wave of attacks from Zhang Fei and Wang Ping.

Liu Bei's army recovered a large number of rafts, door panels and simple trench bridges, and then had the auxiliary troops carry them to launch a general attack on Xiahou Yuan's second line of defense.

It was the same routine and the same process. The two sides first shot bows and crossbows at each other to delay the enemy's attack, and then rows of trench bridges were piled on the trenches to pave the way. The weak points were then reinforced by filling in earthbags and baskets.

The difference is that this time, the archers of Liu Bei's army had more adequate cover - they could hide behind the first deer horn defense line of Cao's army that they had just captured, and shoot at Cao's army. They no longer had to stand on flat ground and rely on the large shields on their backs to block the arrows.

With the double protection, the archers of Liu Bei's army are naturally safer. They can focus on their efforts, aim and shoot with greater confidence.

After some consumption, Zhang Fei's troops once again placed rows of rafts and door panels on the deer horns on the top of Cao's rammed earth wall, and then began to climb the rammed earth wall and engage in hand-to-hand combat with Cao's army.

Cao's army followed suit and fought a bloody battle with Zhang Fei according to the deployment they made during the battle for the first line of defense.

The difference is that this time Xiahou Yuan paid enough attention to Wang Ping and reserved more reserve troops to plug the gap in time. In particular, he deployed the spearmen in Cao's army in sections to ensure that there were spearmen reserves behind each section of the defense line.

In this way, even if Wang Ping found a weak point and attacked by surprise and climbed over the deer horn earth wall, Cao's spearmen would be able to line up densely and stab back - it was well known that spearmen were weak against light infantry with short weapons.

However, there is always a price to pay for everything, and such a deployment also comes with a price. That is, the frontal pressure that Zhang Fei has to withstand will be reduced, and Xiahou Yuan will not be able to mobilize so many spearmen to block Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei also had a good sense of tactics as a famous general. He quickly noticed this change and adjusted his troop deployment accordingly. When attacking the first line of defense, Zhang Fei used the horse-slashing swordsmen as the vanguard to seize the wall position, and then used the long halberd soldiers as the main force to support.

This deployment was also made in consideration of the fact that halberd soldiers were less flexible and would find it difficult to gain a foothold on the wall without the support of friendly forces. They had to be lined up in large numbers to exert their power.

But since the number of Cao's spearmen blocking the entrance has also decreased, Zhang Fei can do the opposite and increase the number of his own halberd soldiers, using the halberd's weapon length advantage to consume Cao's iron rod soldiers and bronze club soldiers.

When Cao's army found that something was wrong, they would of course adjust their deployment accordingly.

The two sides rolled back and forth, the bloody slaughter continued to escalate, and the nerves of both sides were stretched to the limit.

This was the most brutal and intense camp attack and defense battle Xiahou Yuan had ever fought since he joined the army.

Although there have been battles with larger forces on both sides before, they were not so bloody and head-on. Either they were exhausted by the mobile warfare, and then one side collapsed quickly.

Such a fierce and evenly matched fight like today was something Xiahou Yuan had never seen in his life.

Zhang Fei, on the other side, had never commanded an army of more than 30,000 men in a single battle since he lost Liu Bei's hometown of Xuzhou ten years ago. So this was also the biggest and most brutal battle in his life. Both sides were full of energy, fighting to the death, and never giving in. On the second line of defense of Cao's camp, blood soon flowed, and a thin layer of blood accumulated at the bottom of the trench in front of the rammed earth wall.

……

"It seems that Xiahou Yuan has learned his lesson and has kept a trick up his sleeve to deal with the Bandun Barbarians. Unfortunately, if Yide relies on a bloody battle alone, it will take a long time to break through the defense line. Regardless, let the Bandun Barbarians increase their strength and attack with all their might at all costs!"

Liu Bei originally wanted to focus on Zhang Fei, consume some energy with Xiahou Yuan first, and then let Wang Ping make a last gamble when the gap became more obvious.

But he secretly watched from behind the first line of defense for a while and found that Cao's army was still resilient. Liu Bei didn't want to delay any longer and cause more casualties, so he just wanted to break the situation as soon as possible, so he asked Wang Ping to use all his strength early.

After the military order was passed down, Wang Ping no longer held back and sent all the shield-equipped barbarians forward. For a moment, the defensive pressure on Cao's army increased again.

However, since Xiahou Yuan had made preparations and reserved a large number of spearmen to specifically counter the light infantry who were good at climbing, Wang Ping's attack was not as smooth as the first time.

Many Bantun barbarians still struggled to climb up the wall, but soon found themselves surrounded by Cao's spearmen. Cao's soldiers had the advantage of weapon length and could immediately suppress Wang Ping's momentum.

Liu Bei was anxious watching from behind the formation and had an urgent discussion with Pang Tong.

Pang Tong suggested that Zhang Fei send out some of his halberd soldiers to follow the Bantun Man. The Bantun Man was only responsible for tearing the initial hole in the wall, and then the main force of heavy armored long weapon soldiers would fill in the gap.

Liu Bei was sympathetic to his soldiers and quickly gave orders to do so. Zhang Fei also quickly followed suit and finally gradually turned the situation around.

As a result, the situation on the battlefield gradually tilted towards Liu Bei's army as a whole. Many Cao army officers who were fighting desperately on the front line gradually began to feel despair and doubt about their lives:
"What's going on? Weren't we supposed to say that these barbarians had no discipline or morale, didn't know why they were fighting, and were only supported by their courage? How could they be so tenacious?
The fight has been going on for so long, and the first ones to climb the wall have been stabbed with so many holes by the spears, so why are the ones following them still rushing up one after another?"

The morale of Cao's army was gradually suppressed. They simply could not understand how these people, who only relied on their personal bravery and were a mob in terms of military discipline and morale a month ago, could be completely transformed after joining Liu Bei in just half a month.
"Kill! Kill Cao the thief! Avenge him!"

Countless Bantun barbarian soldiers fought like mad tigers, risking their lives to seek revenge on the Cao bandits who had slaughtered their own people for food.

Cao's soldiers often saw some shield-armed soldiers being pierced by spears and fatally wounded, but they would still throw their scimitars with all their strength in an attempt to kill a Cao soldier to make up for it.

As for those whose injuries were not fatal, as long as he found an opening to get close to them, he would attack without defending and fight with his life for his life. He would kill into the group of spearmen and take advantage of the disadvantage of Cao's soldiers pushing and squeezing each other, and attack them with random swords.

Finally, in this state of doubt, the morale of Cao's army was stretched to the point of complete collapse.

They no longer believed General Xiahou's words that "as long as we hold on, we can break the enemy's conspiracy and tricks", nor did they believe General Xiahou's words that "the barbarians have no military discipline and will collapse if it drags on for too long."

General Xiahou is obviously not very smart! He has fallen into the trap set by Liu Bei and Pang Tong again! The situation on the battlefield today must be the result of the enemy's plan!

Once this idea began to spread, Cao Jun's anger was completely deflated.

One section, two sections, more and more points on Cao's Lujiao defense line were completely breached.

The other soldiers who were still holding on were completely panicked and could only retreat to prevent being outflanked by the enemy.

Zhang Fei, of course, seized the opportunity to expand his victory. He personally rushed over the wooden planks on top of the rammed earth wall, holding a copper hammer and a shield, and led a large group of elite horse swordsmen in steel armor around him to charge into the crowd of Cao's army.

Zhang Fei's copper hammer flew around, and he would kill every enemy soldier with one hammer. It was useless for the enemy to block, as they could not withstand Zhang Fei's huge strength.

Zhang Fei didn't need to change his tactics, all he had in his eyes were the helmets of Cao's army.

Just like a butcher cutting an ox or a horse expert, he was so focused that he could not see anything else. As long as he saw the helmet of Cao's army, he would aim at the helmet and hit it with a hammer.

If the opponent doesn't block, just shoot him in the head. If the opponent blocks, smash his weapon and then use the remaining force to shoot him in the head.

"Keng puff! Keng puff! Keng puff!" Every time a sound that was first crisp and then muffled was heard, it meant that a Cao soldier was blown in the head by Zhang Fei, along with his helmet and brain.

The battle finally changed from a simple attack on the camp to a melee in the camp. The two sides were so fierce that they fought fiercely and killed each other crazily.

Xiahou Yuan's troops were killed and gradually collapsed, and fled in all directions. Xiahou Yuan looked at the scene in despair until he was powerless to save the situation.

"General, abandon the camp and retreat! Leave the front troops who are still fighting to block the enemy. We should run away quickly while it is getting dark and let them fight on their own! Otherwise, we will be surrounded and annihilated by Liu Bei today! Our fighting power is far inferior to Liu Bei's, there is nothing we can do about it."

Jia Xu, who had been in charge of military affairs, also realized that the situation was irreversible and could only anxiously persuade Xiahou Yuan.

Xiahou Yuan swallowed hard and numbly, feeling unspeakably bitter inside, he could only nod painfully.

(End of this chapter)