Zhao Yun was also angry at this moment. If he had the guts, he could just fight him head-on. But what was the point of flying into the sky and smashing things on the ground?
With a flash of silver light, Zhao Yun disappeared from the ground and teleported to a height of more than one hundred meters in the sky. This was the limit of her teleportation distance, but she was still some distance away from Zhang Yan.
But it didn't matter. The moment Zhao Yun walked out of the arbitrary door, she activated the second teleportation. With the help of two teleportations, she climbed vertically to the sky more than 200 meters high and appeared directly above Zhang Yan's head! With a flash of silver light, a spear directly cut off one of Zhang Yan's wings! If Zhang Yan hadn't reacted in time, this spear would have chopped off her head.
Zhang Yan was frightened by the sudden appearance of Zhao Yun. He immediately waved two battle axes to fight Zhao Yun. Relying on the five wings, he quickly rotated around Zhao Yun. The two sharp blades used the extreme speed to slash at Zhao Yun's limbs.
Zhao Yun was not in a hurry. Even though he was like a silver meteor, falling powerlessly from the sky, he still waved his spear to block Zhang Yan's flying attacks. After Zhao Yun fell into Liu Zhuang's shooting range, Zhang Yan had no time to attack the young silver-armored general who kept falling, and had to devote his energy to dodging the deadly arrows shot by Liu Zhuang.
The terrifying feeling of weightlessness did not frighten Zhao Yun at all. Instead, he calculated the time of his landing. Before he was smashed into a meat paste, he turned into a silver flying star for the third time and used the third teleportation to avoid landing damage, standing safely on the ground.
Until this moment, one of Zhang Yan's severed wings fell heavily on Zhao Yun's back, dragging blood, splashing dust all over the sky and making her silver battle robe flutter in the bloody wind.
"I'm sorry, she flew really fast. I couldn't chop off her head. I only cut off one of her wings."
Zhao Yun said somewhat frustratedly.
"Don't take such risks next time! Just stay by my side and I'll take care of that flying man."
After Liu Zhuang forced Zhang Yan back with three arrows, he held Zhao Yun's shoulders with concern, and the worry on his face was beyond words. The two teleportations and the vertical climb of 200 meters just now frightened Zhang Yan, and his heart was in his throat. He almost thought Zhao Yun would fall to his death.
"As ordered."
Zhao Yun was very happy when he saw Liu Zhuang's worried expression. He continued to stand guard beside Liu Zhuang. However, the flying man Zhang Yan seemed to have slowed down because one of his wings was cut off. After throwing another round of flying axes, he disappeared into the sky and never appeared again.
Chapter 96: The Army Takes the Head
The central army was fighting fiercely, the left army was raining arrows, and the 5,000 elite soldiers of the Han army were basically suppressing the 20,000 Yellow Turban peasants.
At this moment, seeing that the Yellow Turban Army was being held back, Gongsun Zan also led the right army to attack. The temperature of the entire battlefield dropped rapidly. A frost dragon swooped down from the bank of the Wenshui River, spewing out frost all over the sky, and actually froze the river water into a layer of solid ice.
Thirty white horse volunteers walked onto the ice, and the water surface where the iron hooves of the icy white horses stepped was frozen into a thick layer of solid ice.
Among the crowd, Gongsun Zan's tall and sexy body turned into a crystal clear body of ice, like a beautiful ice sculpture created by nature, standing proudly above the river. The entire surface of the Wenshui River was cooling down and freezing rapidly, leaving space for the cavalry to charge.
The natural river barrier on the right side of the Yellow Turban Army had turned into an icy road that cavalry could pass through.
A thousand Youzhou cavalrymen tied sackcloth to the hooves of their war horses to increase friction. At Gongsun Zan's command, a thousand Youzhou cavalrymen stepped over the ice and launched a cavalry charge towards the unprepared right army of the Yellow Turban Army! Before the thousand iron hooves arrived, they first fired three shots, using a hail of arrows to increase the chaos and panic of the enemy army, and then stabbed into the army like a thousand sharp razors!
The commander of the front army stabbed with his spear, the armies on the left and right swung their halberds and chopped, the armies in the middle and rear supported with a rain of arrows. The Youzhou cavalry used the standard cavalry tactics of the Han Dynasty and destroyed them with a devastating force. They trampled on the undefended right wing of the Yellow Turban Army and were about to kill Zhang Niu Jiao!
"Quickly dispatch Zhang Yan back! Draw some Jizhou soldiers from the central army, and draw spearmen from the left army to fill the vacancy on the right! Immediately set up a temporary position on the river bank to block the Han cavalry!!!"
Zhang Niujiao was panicked when he saw the frozen river. He immediately withdrew troops to reinforce the right army's defense line, but it was like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
After a large number of reinforcements filled the right army, they did block Gongsun Zan's Youzhou cavalry for a while, but it made the left army, whose morale had already collapsed, even more confused and helpless. They looked at their dwindling companions and at Lu Bu who launched a violent charge again. Huge flaws appeared in their hearts and formations.
Lu Bu seized the opportunity and immediately led all the elite white horses to charge forward. The Bingzhou Iron Cavalry launched an unstoppable cavalry charge and directly killed through the Yellow Turban Left Army. A thousand iron cavalrymen stepped on the mountains of corpses and seas of blood and rushed straight to the flag of the Black Mountain commander: Zhang Niujiao!
At this moment, Zhang Niujiao was also panicked. As a bandit leader, he could rob and pillage with a few hundred people and circle around the government troops, but he really had no idea how to command an army of 20,000 people. He stopped Lu Bu on the left side of the army, but could not stop Gongsun Zan on the right side.
Gongsun Zan, who was blocking the right army, had no extra troops to stop Lu Bu of the left army.
If he wanted to stop the Youbing cavalry charging on both sides, he couldn't stop Liu Zhuang in the center! Liu Bei! He sent all the Thunder Warriors to the center to charge, hoping to break through the enemy's center in one go, but Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhang He, and Zheng Jiang on the opposite side were extremely brave. Facing these enemies, the Thunder Warriors couldn't beat any of them. This, this, this, this, it's all death!
"Support the Han Dynasty! Kill the traitors!"
There were two long blood-red feathers on Lu Bu's helmet and a crimson cloak on his shoulders. He looked like a bloody storm as he led the entire army to charge. He did not give Zhang Niu Jiao any time to think. He hurriedly organized a defense with his two hundred guards. The two hundred Yellow Turban guards were wearing iron armor. The ones in front held large shields and long spears; the ones in the back held large shields and crossbows. They used the shields as supports and stuck them into the ground. They hid behind the large shields to string the crossbows and shoot at the nearest cavalry.
Seeing that the enemy's defense was so tight, Lu Bu did not send the cavalry in to die, but just let them use arrows from a distance to deal with Zhang Niu Jiao's powerful crossbows and large shields. Then he let the Wuhuan cavalry rush into the gap in the Yellow Turban Left Army to expand and maintain the results of the battle and completely defeat the Left Army first.
Afterwards, Lu Bu personally rode forward, came to a position 150 meters away from the Yellow Turban Guards, and galloped around them.
150 meters, riding a horse at full speed, and accurately hitting the target under these two premises was too harsh. None of these crossbowmen could hit Lu Bu who was riding a horse at full speed at this distance. Even if they were lucky enough to hit him, his arrows would be deflected by Lu Bu's extraordinary agility and the red robe given to her by Liu Zhuang to avoid arrows. For a moment, no crossbowman could cause any harm to Lu Bu.
On the bumpy horseback, Lu Bu pulled the Netherworld Bow given by Lu Zhi from a distance of 150 meters, and shot a dark blue force field arrow. The arrow, like a ghost, pierced through three shields, three armors, and the bodies of three Yellow Turban guards, and directly shot through Zhang Niujiao's left shoulder! It was only three centimeters away from the heart!
"Tsk, it's off."
Lu Bu was not annoyed. After all, it was difficult to shoot arrows on a galloping horse. He continued to bend his bow and aim.
At this moment, Zhang Niu Jiao was extremely terrified. He broke out in cold sweat as he looked at the three guards who died in front of him. Three transparent holes were opened in their bodies by the ghost arrows, and they continuously spurted out scarlet blood.
What the hell is this woman and the bow and arrow in her hand? She shot me from a distance of 150 meters? And the arrow pierced through three of my armored guards and three shields before piercing my left shoulder? ? ?
"call out!!!"
Lu Bu shot the second arrow, and Zhang Niu Jiao quickly opened a magnificent golden and pious shield to bounce the arrow back. The netherworld arrow emitting a blue halo, like a ghost, once again pierced through the chests of the three guards, their armor, and their shields, which became bigger and bigger in front of his eyes.
It's okay. The Pious Shield is a magic spell that specifically fights against arrows. This arc-shaped energy shield can directly deflect arrows. I use this magic to block countless Han army's powerful bows and crossbows...
“Sizzle!!!”
Zhang Niujiao's confidence was shattered with the severe pain in his chest. The arrow passed through the pious shield like a ghost, and this time it shot directly through his heart! A fist-sized transparent hole was opened in his left chest, and a yellow turban guard behind him was shot dead on the spot!
"Wow!!!"
Zhang Niujiao knelt on one knee, vomiting blood. If it weren't for the amplifying talisman water from the Thunder Warrior's two hearts, he would probably have died!
I was trained by the Great Sage to become a tenth-level Yellow Turban Priest, and drank nineteen bowls of talisman water. I have already entered the ranks of the world's strong men. Why am I being slaughtered like an ant in front of this woman?
Zhang Niu Jiao was in doubt, and when Lu Bu found that he failed to kill a Yellow Turban commander with two arrows, he became a little angry. He simply stopped aiming and used quantity to fill the quality gap. He shot a rain of arrows from the sky at a terrifying frequency of one arrow per second. One by one, the Nether Arrows pierced through all the Yellow Turban guards in their flight path!
What's even more terrifying is that Lu Bu was riding in circles on his horse while shooting with a bow. After a while, he had run around the two hundred guards and Zhang Niu Jiao. Almost all the guards were shot through by the Nether Arrows, or watched their compatriots who were within reach being shot to death by one arrow. It was useless to hold a shield and wear armor, because the arrows with force field damage were not afraid of the damage reduction of steel at all.
Zhang Niu Jiao, who was protected in the center by two hundred guards, was even more lonely. Lu Bu emptied his quiver, having shot out twenty arrows, and also made forty holes in his body with twenty arrows. Each of his attacks was able to penetrate his body directly. His whole body was shot like a sieve, and his blood was almost drained out!
The number of Yellow Turban Guards who were killed and injured by the Netherworld Bow reached more than seventy. They were lying on the ground covered in blood, and their wounds were gushing blood like fountains of blood in a hell of corpses. The remaining people saw this and thought that there was no way they could fight back. The boss was half dead, and we couldn't act as meat shields to stop the Netherworld Arrows shot by this man. Their morale collapsed and they scattered, leaving the dying Zhang Niu Jiao under their general's flag.
Lu Bu looked at the scattered Yellow Turban guards and did not chase after them. Instead, he rode forward, cut off the Black Mountain commander's flag with one halberd, and pierced Zhang Niujiao's chest with another halberd. He then held his body, which had already been shot into a sieve, high on the tip of his halberd as his trophy.
When the warm wind blew, his body, which had almost bled dry, hung on the tip of the halberd and swayed in the wind, like a huge flag of flesh and blood, fluttering in the warm spring and summer breezes.
Chapter 97: Insider Offensive
In the Battle of Dingtao, the 20,000 Yellow Turban Army collapsed, and the coalition forces killed or wounded 6,000 and captured 6,000 enemies. The remaining 8,000 soldiers were divided into 8,000 groups, discarding their armor and weapons and fleeing in panic. There were too many of them, and only with the full efforts of the 3,000 cavalrymen to pursue and capture them could they achieve such a result.
Following Youzhou commander Cheng Yuanzhi, Black Mountain commander Zhang Niujiao was also shot dead by Lu Bu in Dingtao. The four of them joined forces to seize countless weapons and supplies, and obtained 1,500 sets of double-crotch armor, among which were mixed some tube-sleeve armor worn by officers. Because Lu Bu got the first credit, Liu Zhuang's White Horse Camp received 600 sets of iron armor, and the other three camps each received 300 sets of iron armor.
Now, among the one thousand cavalrymen in the White Horse Battalion, there are five hundred heavy cavalry and five hundred light cavalry.
All of the 1,000 infantrymen were wearing armor, and they were all heavy infantry. This armor rate was already quite scary.
"We are only 120 miles away from Xiaquyang. A normal infantry march would take three days, but if the cavalry marches quickly, they can reach the place in one day and one night. Dong Zhuo has about 7,000 troops, while Zhang Jue still has about 80,000 troops, excluding the losses in Dingtao."
Guo Huai, who has the highest intelligence, said seriously that this originally gentle and refined girl from an aristocratic family has been in the White Horse Camp for a long time, and now her speech is becoming more and more down-to-earth.
“But it doesn’t matter. After these battles, the weakness of the Yellow Turban Army has become very obvious. Zhang Jue and others have indeed rebuilt a superstructure, using religion to incite people’s hearts, and are widely supported by the people. This is why they can make a comeback again and again.
However, the Yellow Turban Army was extremely short of middle-level generals and had a very low degree of organization. Their huge army could only fight battles when the wind was favorable. Once they encountered an unfavorable situation, the entire army would collapse. Except for Zhang Jue, most of the others were bandits and were born as peasants. They could not even read, let alone military books. Whether it was Cheng Yuanzhi of Youzhou or Zhang Niujiao of Heishan, they were great generals, but they could not fight a good battle.
Now, we have two choices.
Or he could take advantage of the time difference and organize 3,000 cavalrymen to rush towards Xiaquyang, and attack these defeated Yellow Turban soldiers immediately before they escape back to Xiaquyang and tell Zhang Jue about the battle situation there.
Otherwise, we can each send out a part of our elite troops, gather them together, put on the clothes of the Yellow Turban Army, and immediately go to the Yellow Turban camp in Xiaquyang. When the defeated soldiers return to the army, we can blend in together as an internal cause, and then use the old three methods: night attack, arson, and bombing the camp. The Yellow Turban Army's organization and training are extremely low, so doing this late at night will definitely have a great effect."
"The second one, although Zhang Niujiao was killed, Zhang Yan ran away. That guy is a bit troublesome."
Liu Zhuang thought about it and chose the second plan. Historically, the Yellow Turban Army was also killed by this method. After all, their organization was too poor and they collapsed in a chaotic night battle.
"Who?"
Guo Huai turned his head and asked curiously.
"As for the six-winged birdman who tried to kill the general and seize the flag today, she was incredibly fast. When she was escaping, Zhao Yun didn't even stop her. He only cut off one of her wings. Our cavalry can't be faster than her flying speed. I'm afraid Zhang Jue already knew something was wrong before the cavalry arrived."
After a discussion, everyone agreed to Guo Huai's second plan and began to assign tasks, including who would be the internal accomplice to launch a night attack and arson, and who would be the external assault leader.
After some discussion, Gongsun Zan, as the cavalry general with the longest resume and the most combat experience, was responsible for the main external attack, and at the same time sent fifty elite veterans as internal support.
Liu Zhuang personally brought Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun and his thirty level 3 guards to act as insiders, and was in charge of all the insiders. He temporarily handed the White Horse Camp over to the command of Lu Bu and Lu Ze - after all, Lu Bu's -meter tall figure was too outstanding, and it was extremely difficult to sneak in.
Liu Bei's succubus appearance of a dragon and a demon is equally exaggerated, and it is impossible to hide. His second sister Guan Yu is better at charging than fighting in melee, so she sent Zhang Fei and fifty elite soldiers to participate in the internal response operation.
Zhang He was also extremely excited after winning a game, but her contribution was not great.
If he thought about it carefully, his troops were all servants and infantry. If he led the attack from outside, he would not get any great merit. The greatest merit would definitely be the cavalry of the White Horse Camp and the Yanshan Camp. It would be better for him to rely on his dragon blood talent to be an insider and win greater fame!
Therefore, Zhang He directly handed over his troops to Lu Bu's command in the White Horse Camp, and he himself joined the internal support with three hundred absolutely loyal and elite servants.
And just like that, the plan was set.
Outside, Gongsun Zan led Lu Bu, Guo Huai, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and more than 5,000 soldiers to attack the camp.
Inside, Liu Zhuang led Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, and 430 elite soldiers as internal support.
"I admire the bravery of the generals! Here, take these things, they should be of help to you."
The courage and daring of Liu Zhuang and his gang moved the Confucian scholars from Guanxi who were out for help and leading the way to tears - damn, I thought the people from Guandong would just sit back and watch, hesitating and making a fool of themselves by watching General Dongzhonglang.
In order to avoid this situation, I prepared a lot of gifts along the way, racked my brains, and thought of many words to stimulate the Guandong people to fight. As a result, these people did not hesitate at all! The first battle defeated 20,000 Yellow Turbans, and the second battle was about to break the siege of Xiaquyang!
Gongsun Zan, Liu Zhuang, Liu Bei, Zhang He and other people from Guandong can get along well. They will really come forward when there is trouble!
The Confucian scholars from Guanxi were extremely moved and immediately expressed their willingness to infiltrate with Liu Zhuang and contact the General of the Eastern Army. They also presented Liu Zhuang with three Qiankun bags, which were a superficial imitation of the sacred objects of the Shang and Zhou dynasties by the Confucian scholars of the Han Dynasty. After all, the real manufacturing method was burned in Xianyang by Xiang Yu.
The inside of the Qiankun bag is much bigger than the outside, and the weight does not change even if it is full. The armor, weapons, and kerosene of the group are all hidden in the Qiankun bags of Liu Zhuang and Zhang He, making it convenient to pretend the embarrassing scene of everyone throwing away their weapons and armor.
It is said that the Qiankun bag in the Shang and Zhou dynasties could even hold people. Unfortunately, no one knows how this was achieved now, and it can only hold goods.
After the plan was finalized, the group immediately picked out suitable clothes from the prisoners and piles of corpses, and then added blood and mud to dress themselves up as the defeated Yellow Turban soldiers. Four hundred and thirty elite soldiers quietly mixed into the chaotic army, followed, joined the Yellow Turban rebels, all the way to Xiaquyang, followed the chaotic army, and sneaked into Zhang Jue's camp.
As for the remaining people, they rested on the spot first. Lu Bu and Lu Ze divided the spoils first. This time, the two did not even treat half of the property as public property, but distributed it all to all the soldiers in proportion to their military merits to boost morale.
You guys are so excited to get so much money today? I tell you, the bandits are only 120 miles away! As long as we can defeat Zhang Jue, the wealth we can get is ten times, a hundred times what we have today!
The morale of the White Horse Camp, fed with spoils of war, was at its peak. Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei also followed Lu Bu's example and rewarded the soldiers with all the spoils they had obtained. The soldiers were now blood-thirsty, and looking at Zhang Jue's camp 120 miles away, all they had in their eyes were gold, silver, treasures, fame and fortune.
Chapter 98: The Center Blossoms
At this moment, Zhang Jue also had a splitting headache after receiving the news that Zhang Niu Jue was defeated in Ding Tao.
With only 100,000 men, they attacked Dong Zhuo's 7,000 Western Liang troops with all their might. After three days of fighting, they failed to defeat them. When they heard that more than 6,000 reinforcements had arrived from the south, they dispatched 20,000 men to the south to stop them.
As a result, in just two days, six thousand were killed and six thousand were captured. The remaining people were fleeing back to the Xiaquyang camp one after another. Those who fled back were so scared that they had lost their courage.
Now, it was Zhang Jue's turn to be in a dilemma.
Dong Zhuo's Longxi camp was extremely strong and could not be taken down even by 80,000 or 100,000 men.
The 6,000 reinforcements from Guandong in the south were not to be trifled with. Twenty thousand of them went out to stop them, but they were defeated in a field battle. Sending another 20,000 to stop them would be a big problem.
But the problem is that he only has 80,000 men now. If he sends another 30,000 or 40,000 men to fight the Guandong reinforcements, can the remaining 40,000 or 50,000 men still hold back Dong Zhuo's Guanxi troops?
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"Sister, why don't we withdraw our troops and stop besieging Dong Zhuo? This place is only 120 miles away from the battlefield of Yintao. It's too close. The reinforcements from Guandong can rush in at any time. If they join forces with Dong Zhuo's troops from Guanxi, our entire army will be in danger."
Zhang Bao raised his head worriedly and looked at Sister Zhang Jiao, whose delicate and beautiful facial features were exactly the same as his own.
"Besides, your body..."
"We can't retreat! Losing to Lu Zhi is already fatal. If we lose to Dong Zhuo here again, many people will despair of Huang Tian. Those who once supported us will simply leave us! We must win this battle!"
Zhang Jue was now in a difficult situation. The Yellow Turban Army lacked middle and lower-level command backbones. If he lost the support of the people at the grassroots level, everything would be over.
"In order to preserve his reputation, Lu Zhi would rather die than bow to the eunuch. I will not bow to the Han emperor and admit defeat!"
"But the wound you suffered when you fought with Lu Zhi has not healed yet. Dong Zhuo's damn knife has left you with an unhealable wound. If the fight continues, I'm afraid your body won't be able to bear it!"
Zhang Bao carefully helped his sister lie on the bed, carefully took off her bright yellow silk dress, and tore off the blood-soaked bandages one by one. Zhang Jiao's slender and fair body was covered with five huge claw marks. Each claw mark had torn her flesh and blood, and her skin was rolled outwards. The five claw marks were distributed on her lower breasts, navel, lower abdomen, thighs, and knees in sequence, which looked extremely hideous and terrifying, forming a very sharp contrast with her fair and graceful body.
Not only did these five claw marks heal extremely slowly, but the surrounding flesh and blood seemed to be cooked by dragon fire. The temperature of the wounds and nearby skin was frighteningly high. Zhang Jue actually fought with Dong Zhuo with this injury. His right shoulder was also cut by Xiang Yu's sword. The wound has not healed until now. Every two or three hours, the gauze bandage would be completely soaked with blood and had to be replaced immediately.
Zhang Bao used a healing spell, and under the shining of that sacred and magnificent light, the cursed wound left by Xiang Yu's sword still could not heal, and the body torn apart by Lu Zhi's flaming dragon claws could only recover slightly.
Injuries of this degree are far beyond the range of healing by ordinary divine arts.
"What's more, Lu Zhi is already in his sixties or seventies. He doesn't have many years left to live. He has been recruiting disciples intensively in recent years and has always been determined to die. If you die, sister, who can lead us to complete Huang Tian's unemployment?"
"Yes, sister, why don't we retreat first? With the intensity of the factional struggles in the Han Dynasty, as long as we stay in the city, the internal fighting between the Guandong, Guanxi and eunuch parties will sooner or later destroy the Han Dynasty. The most important thing now is to quickly heal your body."
Zhang Liang also came to persuade them. The three sisters looked exactly the same, and one could only recognize the differences between them through the subtle differences in expression between their eyebrows. The eldest sister Zhang Jiao was full of charisma and sophistication, the second sister Zhang Bao was reserved and introverted, and the youngest sister Zhang Liang was a wild and unrestrained crazy girl.
"It will take at least three days for the reinforcements from Guandong to arrive here. If we include them collecting the spoils and resting after the battle, it may take five days, or even longer... Three days, hold on for another three days! If we still cannot break through Dong Zhuo's camp after three days, we will retreat to Xiaquyang."
Zhang Bao pondered for a long time and finally made the final concession.
However, what she did not expect was that Liu Zhuang had already sneaked into her camp. Not long after her order was issued, it reached the ears of the Guandong Army. The Yellow Turban Army had very poor management of the army. Only Zhang Jue's direct Yellow Turban believers, Thunder Warriors, and the rebellious Jizhou Army had a uniform organization and command.
The remaining peasant soldiers were crowded together in a mess. Zhang Jue divided them into counties, with hundreds or thousands of peasants from each county crowded together. Then the peasants from each county selected a leader.
