ushernet Chapter 310 Elite Troops and Strong Generals
Chapter 310 Elite Troops and Strong Generals
After switching from offense to retreat, the advantage of cavalry charging had vanished. Having lost their momentum, these Dayuan cavalrymen were no better than the Hua soldiers.
As the encirclement gradually closed in, shrinking their room for maneuver, the remaining 3 or so Dayuan cavalrymen had no choice but to dismount and fight on foot, attempting to break through in the direction they thought they could possibly succeed.
Because both brigades of the 131st Company consisted of soldiers, in order to maximize the encirclement of the enemy troops, Zhang He, Sun Ce, and Zhang Ji took the lead and deployed their cavalry soldiers on the road leading northwest, forming a weak interception line to prevent the enemy troops from escaping. While cutting down the panicked enemy soldiers, they also mobilized soldiers from both flanks to encircle them.
Finally, at 11:15, after sacrificing more than two hundred soldiers and cavalry...
After the casualties, the two brigades of the 131st Company, totaling more than 30,000 soldiers, finally joined forces, forming a single line and completely encircling the less than 30,000 troops.
The Dayuan cavalry organization.
Under the command of their leaders at all levels, the well-trained Chinese soldiers advanced steadily, step by step, tightening the encirclement until there was no room left for the enemy soldiers to escape.
These Dayuan cavalry were formed after Ustuku retreated from the Talas River. Only a small number of them were veterans with a strong fighting spirit. The rest were new recruits who, after charging around for a long time without finding a way out, lost their confidence in fighting and gradually dropped their weapons and knelt down to surrender.
Those enemy soldiers who fought desperately were mercilessly killed by the Chinese soldiers to prevent future trouble.
Around 2 a.m., the battlefield gradually quieted down, and the Dayuan soldiers squatted on the ground in rows, waiting to be taken in.
赵云在伤亡士兵4000多人的情况下击杀敌卒骑兵8000多人，俘虏27000余人，外加3万多匹卒马。敌卒逃跑4000多人，基本上是在131社两个旅士兵没来得及合围的情况下被敌人从缝隙中逃跑过去的。
This great victory not only captured most of the remaining elite cavalry of Dayuan, but Zhao Yun also personally killed the enemy's commander, Wustuku. Dayuan no longer had a single capable general, and the country was on the verge of destruction.
The soldiers who were cleaning up the battlefield dug a pit and buried Ustuku's body. Zhao Yun rode his Tengyun Steed back to the camp and boiled water to take a bath.
As for the prized horse in Ustuku, it was considered a spoil of war and would be registered by the logistics department before being distributed to the generals.
Since becoming the commander-in-chief of the Wuwei garrison, he has rarely taken action.
Having personally led the charge to slay the Ustuku, Zhao Yun was filled with boundless pride. He downed three whole bottles of baijiu, getting Zhang He, Ma Teng, and a host of other fierce generals drunk, before finally staggering back to camp to sleep. The post-battle rest and reorganization, along with the arrangements for patrols, were left to Xun Yu, Zhuge Liang, and a few others.
While the battle raged fiercely in the Tovia Wasteland, Zhang Fei was taken by the 10,000 cavalrymen arranged by Ustuku to the banks of a large river in the southwest.
After killing less than two hundred enemy cavalrymen who had fallen behind along the way, Zhang Fei realized something was wrong. Seeing the enemy soldiers rushing across the river to the other side without hesitation, not caring about the cold water, Zhang Fei finally decided to stop.
"Xi Yi, something seems amiss," Zhang Fei asked Xi Yi, pointing to the enemy soldiers who had slowly stopped after crossing the river.
"I don't quite understand. These Dayuan cavalry seem to be trying to lead us somewhere!" Xi Yi said, looking at the Dayuan cavalry who had crossed the river but hadn't fled.
"Is this a ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain? Is Ustuku planning to attack the general?" Cao Zhen asked doubtfully.
Zhang Fei and Xi Yi's expressions changed. They exchanged a glance, thinking about the ten thousand enemy cavalrymen who kept moving back and forth, never leaving Zhang Fei's sight, leading him to chase after them.
Now that Zhang Fei has decided not to cross the river, the other side has stopped running and is waiting for Zhang Fei to cross on the other side, seemingly trying to lure him further away.
"Let's go back!" Zhang Fei shouted, turning his horse around. The 3 cavalrymen turned their horses around on the riverbank and retreated back the way they came, leaving the commander of the Dayuan cavalry, Laher, on the opposite bank of the river, who was anxiously waiting and jumping up and down.
Twenty minutes later, Zhang Fei's foot soldier had disappeared, and Rachel was still hesitating, seemingly lost in thought.
"General, it's already dark. The commander has probably already reached the Tovia Wasteland and begun attacking the enemy soldiers."
"Our mission is complete!" A centurion standing nearby advised Rachel, who was still unwilling to give up.
"It's still early, and we don't know if the general can break through the enemy's infantry formation and defeat Zhao Yun's large force in time!" Rachel shook his head.
A few minutes later, Rachel suddenly said, "No, what if our general can't defeat Zhao Yun's troops and is then attacked from behind by these 3 cavalry? That would be disastrous. Let's go and chase after them!"
If Ustuku failed to defeat Zhao Yun's large army in a short time and the battle became deadlocked, Zhang Fei's 3 men would have to retreat, which would have been fatal for Ustuku.
Feeling that he couldn't just let Zhang Fei go back, Rachel decided to chase after him and entangle him, preventing him from returning to Zhao Yun's main force to provide reinforcements.
It was already dark, and the crescent moon was dim. After traveling for nearly an hour, a scout came galloping up from behind and reported to Zhang Fei: "Reporting to the brigade commander, the enemy soldiers have crossed the river again and are chasing us. They are still more than 10 miles away."
Zhang Fei frowned and said to Cao Zhen, "You were right. These enemy soldiers were indeed luring us away. Now that we've stopped chasing them, they've followed us!"
"Brigadier, I think the general's forces, plus the logistics team, number over 100,000 men. They can't possibly be defeated by Ustuk. Why don't we turn the tables and wipe out this cavalry first?" Cao Zhen said after thinking for a moment.
“Uh…that’s a good idea. How do we fight them? Go back? They’ll definitely run away again!” Yu Digen asked from the side.
"Now they're chasing us, and they're still quite far away. I remember there's a grove of trees ahead. It's already dark, so we'll hide in the woods and wait for the enemy soldiers to catch up so we can launch a surprise attack."
"The enemy soldiers never wanted to fight us, and their morale is low. Plus, they only outnumber us by a third. If we can surround them, annihilating this cavalry force won't be difficult," Cao Zhen replied.
Zhang Fei thought for a moment. Although only the soldiers on the general's side had horses, the rest were all soldiers, but they were all elite troops with many advisors to strategize. It was impossible for them to be defeated by Ustuku in just a few hours.
So he nodded in agreement to Cao Zhen's suggestion to first eliminate the luring troops. After chasing for a long time, Zhang Fei was too eager to kill anyone.
According to Cao Zhen's plan, Zhang Fei and Xi Yi led the first regiment to advance slowly, giving the enemy time to catch up. Yu Digen and Cao Zhen led the second and third regiments to the front, ambushing in the forest, waiting for the enemy to catch up before rushing out to surround and annihilate them.