bookcurios Chapter 206 All-Out Encirclement and Suppression
Chapter 206 All-Out Encirclement and Suppression
He ran towards Zhao Yun's direction, and at the moment the gun fired, Zhao Yun and Wang Hui rushed up in time to help Chen Er onto his warhorse.
On the other side, upon hearing Zhang Fei's roar, Liu Bei instinctively lunged to the side. Fortunately, thanks to his battlefield reflexes and Zhang Fei's timely warning, Liu Bei dodged a fatal blow. Chen Er's spear only struck Liu Bei's left shoulder. With a muffled groan, Liu Bei pressed his right hand against the wound and continued running towards the oncoming Zhang Fei.
Although Sun Quan was confused by the chaotic situation on the field, Cheng Pu, as a veteran general, was not. He quickly led Sun Quan's guards forward and formed a triangular formation to escort Sun Quan as he retreated towards the riverbank. Once they reached the side of their fleet on the riverbank, they would be safe.
Although Cheng Pu was not entirely clear about what had happened in the center of the field, he vaguely heard the conversation between Liu Bei and the others, which was the Hongmen Banquet set up by Liu Bei!
"Second General, we'll be safe once we retreat to the vicinity of the naval fleet," Cheng Pu said to Sun Quan. Having not experienced much combat, Sun Quan was at a loss for what to do. His mind was filled with Chen Er's patriotic rhetoric, and he was simply reflexively following Cheng Pu.
Supported by Zhang Fei, Liu Bei hysterically roared at Zhang Fei, "Immediately order the execution of Chen Er! They only have a few thousand men; they can't escape!"
Zhang Fei, who really wanted to remind Liu Bei that Chen Er and his men were all cavalry, quickly swallowed his words when he saw Liu Bei's extremely ferocious expression. He knew that Liu Bei's expression at this moment was one of murderous intent!
"Yes, brother, I'll go and give the order right away." While having someone bandage Liu Bei's wounds, Zhang Fei quickly sent a messenger to the large organization that had already landed and was making a flanking maneuver, ordering them to launch a full-scale attack on the Wei organization!
Along the riverbank, soldiers were continuously disembarking from the ships and landing on the shore. Watching the troops landing one after another, Cai Mao was filled with pride and ambition. He was about to establish a world-renowned enterprise!
He was excited just thinking about it. If he succeeded in besieging the current world organization god of the empire, Cai Mao would be the next organization god!
"Reporting to the commander, Liu Bei has ordered us to launch a full-scale attack! Chen Er is trying to escape!"
Just as Cai Mao was lost in his daydream, a messenger rushed up to him. Interrupted by the messenger, Cai Mao said to those around him without any politeness, "Who does Liu Bei think he is, daring to order me around!"
Although Cai Mao was quite capable of commanding naval operations, he could only be considered a general with special skills; his strategic vision and magnanimity were indeed limited.
This greatly affected his development, but he was not aware of this. Moreover, most of his subordinates were sycophants. In addition, in previous years, the Jingzhou Navy was a first-class navy on the river, and no one dared to challenge it. This further aggravated Cai Mao's arrogant mentality.
Upon hearing Cai Mao's words, none of his men dared to respond. Of course, not everyone was a sycophant; some people saw the current situation clearly. One of the lieutenants said to Cai Mao, "Commander, when we came out, the Prince of Nanyang instructed us to obey Liu Bei's orders. Moreover, it is more important to surround and kill Chen Er now. Once we capture Chen Er, Liu Bei will be nothing more than a piece of cake for us."
"Hmph! Then I'll just listen to Liu Bei for now."
Cai Mao knew where the focus should be now, and since his subordinates had given him a way out, he quickly ordered his men: "Pass on my command, the entire organization is to be divided into two large groups, east and west, to join forces with Liu Bei's group to surround and kill Chen Er!"
Following that, Cai Mao added: "A hundred gold pieces will be awarded to whoever takes Chen Er's head! A thousand gold pieces will be awarded to whoever captures Chen Er alive!"
At Cai Mao's command, the messenger ran himself ragged—well, no, it was the warhorse beneath him that ran itself ragged.
Because of the delay, while Chen Er was retreating north, the Jingzhou Ba County Alliance organized a large force of 8,000 men who were lying in ambush in the north of Shiyang, and they managed to find out the direction of Chen Er's retreat.
War is always full of drama. This large organization, which was originally intended to intercept Chen Er, encountered more than 3,000 district cavalrymen who came to pick up Chen Er before they even saw him.
Full of confidence, Jingzhou general Yang Bo believed he would be the biggest winner in this battle. According to intelligence, Chen Er was leading 500 cavalry, while he had 8,000 elite soldiers, 6,000 of whom were equipped with new flintlock muskets, making them powerful.
However, Yang Bo was unaware that his greatest threat would come from behind. When his main force of district cavalry, led by five hundred dragon riders, appeared, Yang Bo and his eight thousand Jingzhou troops immediately panicked. Their formation was now all facing south, in the direction Chen Er might be coming from.
These generals from the Jingzhou organization, who were Cai Mao's direct subordinates, learned nothing but Cai Mao's arrogance. In addition, due to the relatively backward intelligence of the Jingzhou organization and Liu Bei, they had no idea that Chen Er had several thousand cavalry behind him, and at most thought that there were some supporting troops.
Oh no, Liu Bei already knew by now; Chen Er had just told him, but he didn't have time to inform Yang Bo.
Everyone knew what would happen if an unprepared infantryman encountered a large cavalry force that suddenly appeared. Yang Bo was finished, and the Jingzhou organization hadn't even reacted yet.
The cavalry they had trained were already within two li of them. Two li is only a kilometer. For cavalry, this distance is just a dozen or so breaths. But for Yang Bo and his Jingzhou organization, this kilometer might be their last moment.
The earth trembled, and the Jingzhou organization, which was hastily changing formations, became even more panicked upon hearing the approaching thunder. Having never experienced a proper battle, the Jingzhou organization was completely in disarray, and no matter how Yang Bo tried to control them, it was to no avail.
The formation hadn't changed yet, and only the last few rows of musketeers managed to turn their guns around in time. Thanks to Yang Bo's lack of experience, he placed all the spearmen and swordsmen at the front. What was originally a bad formation had now become the only possible counterattack for the Jingzhou organization.
However, these soldiers from Jingzhou, who had long been accustomed to the water towns of the south, had never faced such a large cavalry charge before. The more Yang Bo roared, the more panicked the Jingzhou soldiers became, and their originally tight formation began to sparse.
The commander of this temporarily reinforced cavalry regiment, Wu Hong, was an elite cavalry organization officer who graduated from Zhao Yun's school. How could he possibly let go of such a good opportunity?