Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 118 Cannibalization
In the process of shrinking the formation, Yan Yu's troops were attacked by the enemy several times. The most dangerous one was when the formation was almost broken.

Fortunately, Yan Yu led his troops to support in time and blocked the gap at the cost of dozens of lives.

This is when the role of a brave general comes into play. Yan Yu's ability to lead troops may be unsatisfactory, but he can definitely be called a fierce general.

At least in Zhu Zhijun, there is no one who can match him.

Yan Yu was wearing heavy armor, his whole body wrapped tightly in iron armor, like a human chariot. Wherever he swung his long sword, blood and flesh flew everywhere. He would kill gods if they stood in his way, and he would kill Buddhas if they stood in his way!
None of the generals under Zhu Zhi's command could match his opponent in ten rounds.

Even Zhu Hai, the strongest among Zhu Zhi's soldiers, was slashed three times by Yan Yu and retreated three steps with his hands shaking.

This was the unique fighting style of the Yan brothers. They might not be skilled in military formations, but with their exceptional bravery and a group of veterans who had fought on the edge of a knife, they could instantly change the course of a local battle. If their opponent was even slightly weaker, they would easily defeat them.

It is no coincidence that Yan Baihu can rise in Wujun.

This man could be called the second bravest man in Wu County. He was born into a wealthy family and liked to make friends with local heroes and knights since he was a child. He had a heroic and unrestrained character and was deeply respected and loved by the green forest people in Wu. He gathered a group of desperate criminals who were not afraid of their lives around him. He was a natural "leader".

Yan Yu, the bravest man in Wu County, was his younger brother and regarded him as his father.

Such a person was enough to dominate Wu before external forces like Sun Ce intervened.

Zhu Zhi stood in the formation and watched Yan Yu charge left and right, repelling his own soldiers who had broken into the formation again and again as easily as cutting melons and vegetables. His eyelids twitched and he began to understand why the local generals praised him for his courage that was unmatched by ten thousand men.

His face turned grim, and there was a hint of anger in his tone: "If only one of Yigong, Demou, or Gongfu were here, how could they allow this boy to be so rampant!"

Zhu Zhi felt helpless. As the saying goes, 'When there is no tiger in the mountain, the monkey becomes king'. What could he do?

In the entire Zhu Zhi army, Zhu Zhi is the best at fighting, but he has not been on the battlefield for many years, and his skills have long been rusty. He is definitely not a match for Yan Yu.

If Sun Ce knew the current battle situation of Zhu Zhi's army, he would definitely regret sending Huang Gai to Yongping instead of Qiantang.

In response to the current war situation, Zhu Zhi thought about it for a moment and quickly made new arrangements.

dong dong!

The war drums sounded, Zhu Zhi's army attacked more fiercely, and the formation began to change, from two parts to three parts, and launched a siege on Yan Yu's army.

Zhu Zhi snorted in his heart. Although Yan Yu was brave, he was only one person. How many people could he save?

If you defend for too long, you will lose. The demise of Yan Yu’s army is only a matter of time.

However, for Zhu Zhi, the most precious thing at this moment is time.

He must defeat Yan Yu's troops as quickly as possible and then withdraw quickly, otherwise the longer he stays here, the more dangerous it will be.

A trace of anxiety flashed in Zhu Zhi's eyes.

After the enemy's formation shrank, it had turned into a circular formation which was the best for defense. This formation had no obvious weaknesses. The leader usually commanded in the center, and the soldiers could quickly adjust their positions to deal with threats and attacks from different directions.

The circular formation has been widely used since the Spring and Autumn Period. After continuous improvement, it has become a basic formation that generals must master. There are specific descriptions of it in Sun Bin's Art of War and Wujing Zongyao.

Moreover, the circular formation can be called a fool's formation, and it requires very low command ability from the general leading the troops. It is very suitable for Yan Baihu, who is not good at commanding complex formations.

"If we want to defeat the enemy quickly, we have no choice but to have our cavalry launch a strong attack. First, launch a fierce attack from the southeast, and then launch a surprise attack from the official road on the west!"

While observing the situation in the enemy camp, Zhu Zhi was secretly thinking, and a feeling of regret arose in his heart.

If we use cavalry to attack the enemy before their formation has revealed any obvious flaws, the losses will inevitably be considerable.

The generals of Jiangdong all had one thing in common: they cherished their cavalry extremely, and Zhu Zhi was no exception. Every loss of a cavalry unit was like cutting flesh from the commander.

"As long as we can capture and kill Yan Baihu, even a few casualties are worth it!"

Zhu Zhi stared at the golden-armored general in the center of the enemy camp from afar, his eyes as cold as ice.

Just as he was planning how to defeat Yan Yu and capture and kill Yan Baihu as quickly as possible, another group of troops under his command was also marching quickly towards Shanyin Pavilion.

The general leading the troops was Sima Tao Qian of the Separate Department.

Tao Qian had previously followed Zhu Zhi's orders and led 500 soldiers into the Shishan Mountains to search for Chen Gan's troops. After completing the mission, Zhu Zhi ordered Tao Qian to lead his troops to Shanyin Pavilion to meet up in order to replenish the combat power of the central army.

In order to conceal his whereabouts, Tao Qian initially took a long detour through country paths. However, the marching speed was very slow and the soldiers gradually became impatient. In addition, the scouts he sent out did not find any trace of the enemy. Tao Qian could not bear the soldiers' complaints and turned to march along the official road.

After walking two or three miles, they suddenly saw a scout stumbling over from a hill in the distance, shouting, "Sima Tao, there are enemies ahead..."

Before he could finish his words, an arrow flew through the air, pierced his back and killed him.

Tao Qian was startled, and then he heard a burst of intense horse hooves coming from the official road behind the hillock. Then, dust flew up, and hundreds of horsemen rushed over the hillock like thunder and charged towards his troops!

"Quickly form a battle line!" Tao Qian yelled frantically, then suddenly remembered that most of his troops were light infantry soldiers, so he turned and shouted urgently, "Retreat to the fields, quickly!"

However, it was too late. The five hundred cavalrymen led by Xu Sheng arrived in an instant. The galloping horses swept away everything like a whirlwind, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

Before the blood on the spear tip had dripped, the rear cavalry had already turned to the front and rolled over again like plowing a field.

After only two charges, Tao Qian's troops were defeated.

The cavalry then dispersed and skillfully pursued the defeated army, just like killing chickens and dogs.

Tao Qian had just run a few dozen steps when he suddenly felt a gust of wind coming from behind him. His head flew up into the sky and was chopped off by Xu Sheng!

In less than a quarter of an hour, all 500 soldiers of Tao Qian's army were killed.

Xu Sheng wiped the bloody tip of the spear on the clothes of a corpse and shouted, "Go!"

Five hundred riders followed Xu Sheng and galloped away. In a blink of an eye, they disappeared into the mountains and fields, leaving only corpses on the ground.

The second unlucky person was Sun Yu, the captain of the Zhonglei Army.

Sun Yu, following Zhu Zhi's order, led a thousand soldiers to Maozhu Mountain to intercept Fan Yan. He fought bloody battles for half a day and a night. However, he was finally defeated by Fan Yan and Wang Chao's two thousand soldiers and had to retreat to Shanyin Pavilion in a hurry.

However, with Fan Yan and Wang Chao on their tail, Sun Yu's troops were as dazzling as the bright moon in the night sky. How could they escape the onslaught of Xu Sheng's army? The reason they were defeated later than Tao Qian's troops was simply because they were farther away from Xu Sheng's army.

Because Sun Yu was a member of the Sun family, he was spared from death and was captured alive by Xu Sheng. None of his soldiers survived.

At this point, 30 to 40 percent of the 7,000 troops who followed Zhu Zhi to the expedition had been lost.

Zhu Zhi tried to take advantage of the enemy's difficulty in defending both ends and defeat Yan Yu and Chen Gan's troops one by one. However, weren't his two troops also in a difficult situation?
After Xu Sheng defeated the two armies, he didn't bother to exchange pleasantries. He clasped his fists towards Fan Yan and said, "Mr. Fan, please lead your troops to Shishan as soon as possible to garrison there and block Zhu Zhi's way back!"

Fan Yan now knew Yan Yi's strategic intention, which was to intercept Zhu Zhi's retreat and eliminate his manpower one by one, first eroding Zhu Zhi's combat power and then surrounding and destroying him.

He knew that the military situation was urgent and that no time could be lost, so he and Wang Chao led their troops on a rapid march straight to Shishan.

(End of this chapter)