The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 304 The First Battle

In order to draw Zhang Fei away, Ustuku sent 10,000 cavalrymen to pretend to be the main force to attract Zhang Fei's attention, while he led the remaining 40,000 cavalrymen to ambush and attack Zhao Yun's main force from the side. With cavalry against soldiers, he thought he could win a victory.

On March 20th, Zhang Fei rode his horse slowly through the center of the cavalry formation, chatting with several regimental commanders about the miracle of Zhuge Liang striking the drum and causing the mountains to collapse. Suddenly, a scout from the outpost ran back down a hillside, and the main force of cavalry scattered to make way.

"Brigadier, there's a situation!" Xi Yi pointed to the scout running towards them and said to Zhang Fei.

"Let's go take a look!" Zhang Fei flicked the reins and rode quickly forward to meet them.

"Reporting to the brigade commander, enemy cavalry has been spotted ahead!" The scout ran up to Zhang Fei, reined in the horses, and reported to Zhang Fei.

"How many men are there?"

"About ten thousand men, all cavalry!"

"Ten thousand men? Ten thousand cavalry dare to block our way? They're incredibly audacious!" Zhang Fei sneered, raising his steel spear and pointing it forward. He shouted, "Go! Wipe out this cavalry unit!"

Several regimental commanders relayed the orders, and 30,000 cavalrymen quickly formed a charge formation. Zhang Fei led his cavalry brigade up the hillside and, sure enough, saw a 10,000-strong Dayuan cavalry unit hurriedly packing up their tents on another hillside opposite. It seemed that they had just been disturbed by Zhang Fei's cavalry brigade while encamped there.

Zhang Fei, brandishing his steel spear, charged ahead of the enemy, determined to fight a fierce battle.

Seeing Zhang Fei's cavalry charge down the mountain, the Dayuan cavalry organization on the other side did not intend to follow up with a cavalry battle. When Zhang Fei was still two or three miles away, they turned and fled westward.

Zhang Fei, thinking the enemy soldiers were afraid, was greatly excited and led 3 cavalry in pursuit, gradually widening the distance between himself and Zhao Yun's main force.

More than forty miles north of where Zhang Fei set out to pursue the enemy soldiers, nestled among the mountains, lies a very secluded valley where Ustuku led his 4 cavalrymen in hiding.

"Reporting to the general, 30,000 enemy cavalry have been lured to the front." A scout sent by Ustuku to investigate the movement of Zhang Fei's cavalry ran into the valley and reported.

"Good, the enemy has fallen for the trap, let's go!" Having achieved the result he wanted, Ustuku revealed a smile, leading 4 cavalry out of the valley and heading east to attack Zhao Yun's large army.

Zhao Yun led the main force of the 131st and 133rd Divisions and their logistics team slowly forward on the main road. A communications soldier ran up from the front and reported to Zhao Yun: "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, Colonel Zhang Fei, the brigade commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 133rd Division, has discovered 10,000 enemy cavalry. Brigade Commander Zhang has led his troops in pursuit and decided to annihilate this enemy force. He has specially ordered his subordinates to come and report this."

Upon hearing that Zhang Fei was pursuing the enemy soldiers, Zhao Yun frowned and asked, "Did the two soldiers not even engage in combat before the enemy soldiers simply fled?"

"Yes, sir!" the communications soldier answered loudly.

"Strange, how could such a thing happen?" Zhao Yun muttered to himself.

"This is bad, it might be a diversionary tactic by Ustuku!" Xun Yuyu frowned and said to Zhao Yun when he heard that the enemy soldiers had retreated without even engaging Zhang Fei in battle.

"How do you know?" Zhang He asked from the side.

“Ustuku is no simple man. Just look at the defenses he set up on the Talas River. If the river hadn’t frozen over, we wouldn’t have been able to break through his defenses so easily. According to intelligence, Ustuku still has tens of thousands of cavalrymen under his command. If he uses a cavalry battalion of 10,000 to lure Zhang Fei away, then we will basically only have soldiers left. He must be planning to launch a cavalry raid on our infantry headquarters to achieve a victory.”

Xun Yuyu became more and more certain as he spoke, and finally concluded that the Ustuku would definitely attack the main force of the army with cavalry.

After listening to Xun Yuyu's analysis, Zhuge Liang and several other advisors also believed that this was not a chance encounter with a cavalry unit, but most likely a scheme by the Ustuks. They suggested slowing down the marching troops and preparing to meet the enemy.

Zhao Yun considered for a moment and concluded that there was a high probability that Ustuk would attack the main force. Therefore, he simply ordered the entire army to halt its advance, organize the soldiers into ranks, and prepare to meet the enemy. He also dispatched several thousand scouts to scout out the possible directions of Ustuk's attack.

The logistics team used horse-drawn wagons to form a circle, protecting non-combat personnel, weapons, and provisions inside. Eighty thousand soldiers were evenly distributed around the perimeter, awaiting the reconnaissance results from the scouts.

As darkness fell, it was already 5:30 PM, and there was still no news. Just when everyone thought Xun Yuyu's guess was wrong, a flame suddenly rose more than 20 miles to the northwest and exploded in the sky, forming a triangular signal of enemy attack.

Then, several flare signals were sent out one after another from that direction, indicating that there were quite a few enemy soldiers and that scouts in different positions were sending out signals of an enemy attack.

Seeing that enemy soldiers were indeed approaching, Zhao Yun ordered his soldiers to change their formation and focus their main efforts on the northwest to prepare for battle.

Zhuge Liang glanced at the darkening sky and suddenly had an idea. He said to Zhao Yun, who was observing the northwest direction with binoculars, "General, I have thought of a way to severely damage the enemy."

"What's the plan? Tell me quickly!" Zhao Yun put down his binoculars and asked Zhuge Liang.

“The enemy troops are all cavalry. To prevent them from flanking and attacking from the rear, we need to widen our battle line. It’s getting dark now, and it will be dark soon. Then we won’t be able to see the whole battlefield.”

"We will have the soldiers in the middle form fight and retreat at the same time, while keeping the flanks still. This will make the enemy soldiers and cavalry think that our middle is about to collapse, so they will charge forward with all their might. Once our entire battle line is bent into a bow shape, we will use fireworks signals in conjunction with the sound of war drums to launch a counter-encirclement, which will surely inflict heavy losses on the enemy."

Zhuge Liang gestured as he spoke.

Upon hearing Zhuge Liang's plan, Zhao Yun's eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously. He immediately commanded the 2nd Brigade of the 133rd Regiment, which had been rigorously tested in the siege of Ulama, to confront the enemy head-on. The 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 131st Division were deployed on the flanks, with the battle line stretching four to five kilometers wide. He also dispatched messengers to convey the specific strategies for engaging the enemy to leaders at all levels, instructing them to act according to the circumstances.

This hasty deployment took a considerable amount of time. Just as it was completed, Ustuku led 4 cavalrymen to a position less than 500 meters in front of the formation.

Ustuku's objective was to lure Zhang Fei's large cavalry force into attacking Zhao Yun's infantry formation, while he himself would use cavalry against infantry, confident of victory. Therefore, seeing Zhao Yun's main force well-prepared, he did not retreat but directly commanded his large force to charge towards the Chinese infantry lines. If they could break through the enemy lines and burn the Chinese soldiers' supplies, it would be a major victory.