Zhang He laughed in anger, dismounted from his horse, squatted beside the personal guard who had followed him for nearly five years, and closed his eyes with his rough big hands.
After standing up, Zhang He's expression gradually solidified, and even became a little fierce: "Hurry and attack the camp, don't delay any longer! In another quarter of an hour, I will see you take this camp!"
"I will follow the commander-in-chief's orders!"
A few moments later, a quick and sharp horn sounded from behind, urging the Wei army's infantry to continue attacking the camp.
Deng Zhi's Guanghan recruits had never faced such a battle situation before. It was completely different from what they had been taught by their generals in Shuzhong, and their fighting spirit was close to collapse. Faced with the sudden intensification of the Wei army's offensive, many soldiers in the battle area turned around and fled.
After one runs away, there will be two, and then more.
In less than a quarter of an hour, except for many soldiers who wanted to escape to the east and west, the Shu army in the camp were either dead or wounded, or kneeling or sitting on the ground to surrender.
The Shu soldiers who wanted to escape did not have any luck at all. Under the suppression of the Wei cavalry's speed, nearly a thousand people who escaped were surrounded by the cavalry and were in a dilemma.
Chen Ping asked beside him: "Commander-in-chief, now that the Shu army camp has been captured, what should we do with these people?"
Zhang He glanced at Chen Ping and said calmly, "First, let them throw away their weapons, then kill them all, burn down the camp and return to the camp immediately."
"By the way, find the Shu general named Deng Zhi. I have something to ask him."
"Kill them all?" Chen Ping looked at Zhang He in disbelief. "General, killing prisoners is unlucky. How can we kill them all?"
Zhang He snorted coldly: "What do you mean by killing prisoners is unlucky? Didn't you see that my personal guard Lu Yi went to the Shu camp to persuade them to surrender, but was shot dead by the Shu dogs?"
"These Shu soldiers kneeling on the ground inside and outside the camp are definitely not prisoners who surrendered voluntarily. They are just too scared to fight. Our army has come from afar and is short of food. The food and grass we have collected in the past two days are not much. If we don't kill them, will they be brought to the city and waste our food and grass?"
"But..." Chen Ping wanted to persuade him a little more.
"Don't worry about anything, just do it!" Zhang He said angrily, "I don't believe that the Shu army didn't ask for help last night. If you don't kill them now, they will kill you tomorrow!"
Chen Ping's expression froze, and he immediately took the order and did it.
The Shu soldiers who were kneeling and sitting on the ground in the camp were killed neatly and efficiently by the old Wei soldiers who broke into the camp within two quarters of an hour. The Shu soldiers on the flat ground outside the camp were also killed.
Zhang He sat on his horse, looking at everything in front of him with an indifferent expression, his eyes were full of coldness. Soon after, Deng Zhi was captured by the Wei army soldiers and brought in front of Zhang He.
Deng Zhi had wounds all over his body. He used to be a refined scholar, but now he looked like a devil. With disheveled hair, he stared at Zhang He while shouting. Blood seemed to be gushing out of his red eyes.
No matter who it is, seeing his soldiers being killed in such a reasonless manner, it is impossible for him to have any other thoughts in his heart except overwhelming hatred.
Deng Zhi spat a mouthful of blood in front of Zhang He's horse and angrily cursed: "What kind of general are you? You are clearly a butcher! You will not die well, you will not die well!"
Zhang He narrowed his eyes and looked at Deng Zhi, with a hint of surprise in his expression: "Why would you, a Shu general, ask such a question? Your reinforcements are coming soon. If I don't kill all of your troops, what else can I do?"
"You are allowed to invade Wei's borders and occupy Wei's cities, but we are not allowed to kill you? Have you never fought a war?"
Deng Zhi wanted to continue cursing, but a personal soldier beside him quickly stuffed a handful of sand, grass and stones into his mouth, causing him to sob for a while.
Zhang He snorted, "Deng Zhi, Deng Bo Miao, right? I want to ask you, how many Shu troops are behind you? How does Zhuge Liang plan to attack our Wei?"
Seeing Deng Zhi struggling and unable to speak under the control of his personal soldiers, Zhang He asked: "If you want to talk, just nod. If you don't want to talk, just shake your head."
Deng Zhi was stunned for a moment, then he shook his head violently and began to struggle.
Zhang He sighed and said to his guards, "Behead him! Put the head at the Broken Mountain Pass and wait for the Shu army behind to pick it up. This is their fate for daring to invade the borders of Wei."
After saying that, Zhang He turned his horse and headed towards Lueyang City.
Here, the Wei army burned down the Shu army's camp and took away the few food and fodder that the Shu army had. Just after they entered Lueyang City, they heard a message from a sentry on the top of the city.
Chen Ping hurried into the county government office, bowed to Zhang He and said, "General, there are more Shu troops coming to Duanshan Pass!"
After hearing this, Zhang He leaned on the couch without moving, and asked, "Is there any news about Chencang today?"
Chen Ping shook his head and said, "Commander-in-chief, there is no news. The messenger who sent a message to Chencang when we returned to Lueyang two days ago is estimated to take another two days to arrive in Chencang."
"Yes." Zhang He lay still on the couch and asked, "Have the small rivers around the west and north of Lueyang City frozen?"
Chen Ping nodded: "Commander-in-chief, I have already asked about the surrounding geography yesterday, and this river is not completely frozen." "Got it." Zhang He said indifferently: "If the Shu army intends to set up camp next to the river, come and tell me. If there is nothing else, I will take a nap first."
Chen Ping knew that his own governor was getting older and not as energetic as before, so he bowed and left.
Not to mention that Zhang He was sleeping soundly in the city, the Shu army that had already passed Duanshankou, when they saw the camp in the west that had not yet been burned down and the head lying flat in the middle of the road, hurriedly reported the matter to the army in the rear.
"General, General, our vanguard encountered the enemy and the camp was burned down!"
Zhao Yun learned at midnight that Deng Zhi had requested help overnight, so he immediately decided to lead 5,000 soldiers to help at night. As dawn approached, the soldiers were exhausted and hungry after walking all night, so Zhao Yun ordered them to rest for half an hour and eat some dry food and drink water.
When Zhao Yun heard that a camp had been burned down south of Lueyang City, he was just surprised and wondered in his mind where Deng Zhi's troops had fled to.
When Zhao Yun saw the head in the hands of his personal soldier, he felt dizzy, his blood rushed to his head and he was dizzy, and he was about to fall off his horse for a while.
After all, as you get older, no matter how strong and heroic a general is, he can't resist the passage of time.
The guards beside him were quick to step forward and help their old general up. Several guards helped Zhao Yun off the horse, and he lay flat for a long time before he gradually woke up.
The moment he woke up, Zhao Yun's eyes were filled with anger, which scared the guards who were kneeling beside him.
Looking at Deng Zhi's head, it was obvious that he had only been dead for about an hour!
Zhao Yun had been a soldier all his life, and during this Northern Expedition, Prime Minister Zhuge ordered him to take charge of half of the Eastern Army, a total of 15,000 troops, which was a heavy responsibility.
And just one hour later, Deng Zhi was killed by the Wei army?
Zhao Yun pushed aside the guards who came to support him, stood up on his own, and said with a determined look: "Now that Bo Miao is dead, I am afraid that the 4,000 soldiers who served as the vanguard will have no chance of survival."
"Send a message to General Ma and the Prime Minister, and tell them that the enemy general Zhang He has arrived in Lueyang, and that the vanguard Deng Zhi's 4,000 troops and Deng Zhi himself have all been killed by the enemy. We are preparing to surround and then attack. Please prepare for defense, Prime Minister!"
"General Yangwu was killed by the Wei army. I will avenge him!" As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Yun jumped on his horse and said in a resolute tone: "Pass the order to set up camp three miles east of Lueyang City and confront the Wei army. When the army behind us arrives, we will continue to block the Longshan Road to the north!"
"Yes, sir!" After receiving the order, the messengers rode their horses forward and backward.
Zhao Yun took Deng Zhi's head with both hands, held it gently in his hands, and carefully wiped off the dust on the head.
Zhao Yun turned sideways and asked, "Does the army have any brocade?"
The military officer nearby replied, "General, we do have dozens of pieces of top-quality Shu brocade."
"Bring three horses!" Zhao Yun sighed, "I don't know if I can find Bo Miao's body yet, so I have to use brocade to cover him first."
After a while, Zhao Yun carefully wrapped Deng Zhi's head in several layers and handed it to the military officer beside him for disposal, while he went forward to catch up with the vanguard army.
At Jieting outside Lueyang City, more than ten days after the Shu army surrounded Qishan Fort, the Wei army and the Shu army started their first large-scale battle.
The ending was also tragic. Zhang He personally led 5,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry to annihilate the 4,000-man army of Deng Zhi, the vanguard of the Shu army, in the south of Lueyang City. He also sent Deng Zhi's official seal and military flags to Guanzhong via fast horses along the Longshan Road.
The Wei army won a victory in Lueyang. The Shu army, from Zhao Yun to Ma Su and Wang Ping, was in a very serious mood at this moment.
The problems of the Shu army exposed in this battle were also extremely prominent.
At this time, the Shu Han army, the garrisons in various places, and the soldiers in the various military governors' defense zones, totaled about 130,000. Zhuge Liang sent 80,000 men to the Northern Expedition, but in fact the military strength in the Shu Han was already very tight.
In other words, except for the 20,000 combat-capable soldiers stationed in Jiangzhou where Li Yan was located, the rest of the combat-capable soldiers were withdrawn by Zhuge Liang and headed north.
But the Shu Han army was indeed hastily formed. Liu Bei lost a large number of troops in Yiling, and almost wiped out the veterans and grassroots officers who had been there for decades. Even a strong man like Zhuge Kongming had to recruit soldiers from all counties of Shu Han again under the premise of lacking grassroots officers.
For example, Zhao Yun's 15,000 troops were mainly composed of the Central Army and the Imperial Guards, plus the county soldiers recruited from Baxi County, while Deng Zhi's troops were composed entirely of county soldiers from Guanghan County.
The army was formed several years ago, which was not too hasty. After Zhuge Liang's military training, it was considered an elite force. However, these new soldiers and generals who had never been on the battlefield were not enough to face Zhang He, a veteran who had fought all his life, and the most elite soldiers of the Wei army in Guanxi.
The battle of Lueyang was a reminder to both sides and also set a big trap for them.
If Wei thought that Shu Han's army was as weak as Deng Zhi's, it would be in big trouble. If Shu Han thought that Wei's army was as strong as Zhang He's army, it would only overestimate the enemy and shrink back.
This is the danger of war, and this is also the charm of war. (End of this chapter)
