Overlord!

Chapter 152 The Collision of Two Martial Temple Famous Generals' Strategies

In the Battle of Huaiyin, almost all of Cheng Lian's troops were wiped out. Of the thousands of troops, only a dozen or so were able to escape back to the north bank.

In fact, soldiers fled in all directions on the battlefield, and even the cavalry couldn't kill them all.There were more than a hundred soldiers who successfully fled in all directions.

But if they can cross the Huaihe River smoothly, there will be no soldiers returning to Ling County.

This is also the same dilemma that Zhang Fei will face when attacking Zhang Liao.

Fighting across the river, once the battle goes wrong, it is a desperate situation, and there is no way to retreat.

For example, Zhang He was defeated by Zhang Fei at Dangqu, and more than [-] people were killed and injured. He was able to abandon his horses and escape by climbing the mountain.

But if Zhang Fei was defeated on the north bank of the Huaihe River, he might not be able to swim across the Huaihe River and return to Huaiyin even if he left his horse.

While Zhang Fei was on the southern line of Huaiyin, rewarding soldiers, distributing armaments, and carefully thinking about how to attack Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao and Hou Cheng were also extremely solemn and dignified in Ling County.

The vanguard of the army, Cheng Lian, led his troops into Huaiyin, underestimated the enemy and rushed forward, but was crushed to pieces by the enemy in one day. Only a dozen soldiers escaped back, and the rest of the thousand were wiped out.

And the soldiers who escaped back were all scared out of their wits.

Everyone is saying the same thing, cavalry!Cavalry!Iron cavalry all over the mountains and plains!Tens of thousands of cavalry!
Zhang Liao can be sure that they definitely didn't get through their rhetoric.Because these rout soldiers took different paths from all directions, returning one after another after more than ten hours.

And everyone's description of the battle is the same. Tens of thousands of Jiangdong iron cavalry came from the distant sky like a wave. There are tens of thousands of elite cavalry all covered in iron armor.

Everyone's rhetoric is like this, causing the defenders in the camp to panic.After all, if there were tens of thousands of armored cavalry on the other side of the Huai River, no one would dare to fight this battle!
Even if all the ten thousand people in the army cross the river, it is still not enough for the opponent's tens of thousands of cavalry to trample at once.There is only one result of this battle, that is, the whole army of our side is driven into the Huaihe River by the enemy cavalry to feed the fish.

Sitting in the tent, Hou Cheng was at a loss for what to do. He was so frightened that he was at a loss.

If there are really tens of thousands of cavalry on the other side of the river, then the Xuzhou battlefield is more dangerous than the Yanzhou battlefield!
He didn't want to fight such a powerful enemy, it would be death in vain.

With his rough head, even if he scratches his head, he doesn't know how to cross the Huaihe River and win tens of thousands of cavalry!
Next to Sun Ce's tens of thousands of cavalry, there was Yuan Shu's [-] troops.

Facing such a huge enemy with only a few thousand people like myself, how can we fight against it?If you persist in the corner, you will only hit a stone with an egg!Even if you don't surrender, you should stay away from this area.

This kind of monster opponent should be left to General Lu and General Cao to deal with it.

So Hou Cheng was anxious, walked around for a long time, and said to Zhang Liao: "Wen Yuan, we should temporarily avoid Wu Hou's sharp edge, and retreat to the Juling area first. There are dense water networks, there are thousands of miles of Hongze, and there are many swamps, and the terrain is muddy. Only in this way can we resist Wu Hou's iron cavalry."

Zhang Liao glanced at him, knowing that all of his things were just excuses.Relying on the terrain to resist Wu Hou's iron cavalry, I just want to escape back to Xiapi, and then let others fight against the Jiangdong army.

In fact, withdrawing troops is more conducive to preserving his strength for Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao is different from generals such as Hou Cheng and Song Xian. Hou Cheng, Song Xian, Wei Xu and others are all direct descendants of Lu Bu and are trusted generals in Lu Bu's army.

And Zhang Liao was not a member of Lu Bu's forces from the very beginning. Lu Bu's army was controlled by the Bingzhou Army after he betrayed Ding Yuan.

And Zhang Liao was a subordinate of the great general He Jin. He was ordered by He Jin to go to Hebei to recruit thousands of soldiers, and then returned to the capital Luoyang to return to his command.

After He Jin's death, all his subordinate troops were recruited by Dong Zhuo. Zhang Liao, as one of General He Jin's direct subordinates, was subordinate to Dong Zhuo just like He Jin's other subordinates and school lieutenants.

At this time, Zhang Liao and Lu Bu did not belong to the same faction at all.It belongs to the various Zhonglang generals that are parallel to each other.

It wasn't until Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu that Zhang Liao commanded his troops under Lu Bu, moved him to be the captain of cavalry, and then moved to the prefect of the north.

Jia Xu persuaded Li Jue, Guo Si and others to attack Chang'an, and Lu Bu was defeated.If there is no accident, Zhang Liao should continue to surrender, subordinate to Li Jue, Guo Si and others, and continue to stay in the capital as his imperial guard.

But at this time, an accident occurred in Qiaqia. Li Jue, Guo Si and others threatened to kill all the men and women in Bingzhou in the army to avenge Dong Zhuo.

Zhang Liaocai had no choice but to lead his troops to escape from Chang'an with Lu Bu and head east to Guanzhong.

However, although Zhang Liao belonged to Lu Bu as a soldier, he maintained a relatively independent position in Lu Bu's army from beginning to end.

So Lu Bu didn't trust him at all, so he sent Hou Cheng to supervise the army.It is worried that Zhang Liao will lead his troops to surrender to other princes.

Of course, Lu Bu's worries cannot be said to be wrong. In history, Zhang Liao surrendered all of them in Xiapi and took refuge in Cao Cao.

But Zhang Liao cannot be blamed for this.Lu Bu's direct descendants Hou Cheng, Song Xian and even his in-law Wei Xu all surrendered, and Zhang Liao, who was relatively independent, had no obligation to accompany Lu Bu to die.

Even after Lü Bu led Xuzhou Mu, Zhang Liao's official position in recent days was Lu Xiang, who belonged to the Yuzhou Governor's Department, not to the Xuzhou Governor's Department.

To be precise, its status is somewhat similar to Liu Bei, the governor of Yuzhou who was subordinate to Lu Bu, and it is an alliance relationship.

Under such a relationship, if Hou Cheng advocated retreating without permission, Lu Bu might beat him with a whip at most.

But if Zhang Liao retreated without authorization, he might arouse Lu Bu's suspicion.

Zhang Liao could only stick to the front line to maintain the stability of the army.Besides, Zhang Liao thought that General Lu might not have no chance of winning this battle.

He said to Hou Cheng: "The soldiers were only scared out of their wits, so they exaggerated. There may indeed be an elite iron cavalry in Huaiyin, but the number of them is at most several thousand, and it is impossible to have tens of thousands. The soldiers are defeated in an instant. How can we see the whole picture of the enemy's army? Tens of thousands of iron cavalry, galloping, boundless and boundless, may stretch for nearly a hundred miles.

Zhang Liao's rhetoric finally calmed Hou Cheng down. The big man had a clear understanding of the huge cavalry.In the winter and October of the first year of Yuanfeng, Emperor Xiaowu went out of the Great Wall, went north to Shanyutai, and went to Shuofang, near the Beihe River.Reining in 18 cavalry, with banners and banners more than a thousand li in diameter, shocked the Xiongnu.

The 18 cavalry would take a state, several counties, and stretch for more than a thousand miles to be dispatched.

If there are tens of thousands of cavalry in Huaiyin County, how to deploy them is a problem.

After calming down, Hou Cheng also quickly approved Zhang Liao's analysis. Sun Ce should have a cavalry force of thousands of people in his hands.

Thinking that he was frightened by thousands of troops and lost his image in front of his colleagues, Hou Cheng was a little annoyed, and said: "Sun Ce is bluffing, I will defeat this thief for the king!"

Zhang Liao sneered inwardly, this guy changed really fast.

Just a moment ago, he was trembling with trepidation, calling him Marquis Wu respectfully, respecting and fearing Marquis Wu, not even daring to show any resistance.

In a blink of an eye, he became angry from embarrassment and uttered nonsense.

Zhang Liao's temper is not very good. The character of the border warriors is rough and direct. He said unceremoniously: "That's just right. Because of the exaggeration of the rout, the generals in the army fear Wu Hou like a tiger. The most important thing in the army now is to defeat Wu Hou. It not only rubs the enemy's spirit, but also revitalizes our army. If you can defeat Wu Hou's troops, you will be the first in this battle!"

Hou Cheng blushed instantly!With blue veins on his forehead, he looked at Zhang Liao angrily.

The lieutenant general checked Wu Hou as fearful of him as a tiger, wasn't he just pointing his nose and scolding himself?

But Hou Cheng was furious, and he had no place to vent.

He boasted that his bravery was equal to that of Cheng Lian. Thousands of Cheng Lian entered Huaiyin, and they didn't even last an hour before the whole army was crushed to pieces by Wu Hou's iron cavalry.

Then he entered Huaiyin with hundreds of soldiers, and was chopped into pieces by thousands of cavalry of Marquis Wu in an instant?
Does Wu Hou have thousands of cavalry or tens of thousands of cavalry make any difference to him?
Hou Cheng blushed and stiffened his neck for a long time, but he still did not dare to respond to Zhang Liao's words. He lost his momentum and said, "Marquis Wu's iron cavalry is invincible. I'll wait for the prince to lead the army to come, and then the prince will make a decision."

In a short while, Sun Ce has changed from Sun Ce to Marquis Wu again!
Zhang Liao didn't bother to comment on Hou Cheng's repeated cunning, and said: "Even if you want to stick to it and wait for reinforcements, you need to try to revive your morale and win or lose before you can continue to fight. Otherwise, the army will not be afraid of Wuhou's army, and you will not even be able to hold on to the camp. We must defeat the Jiangdong part to motivate the army and show the soldiers that Wuhou is not invincible."

Hou Cheng was a veteran general in the army, and Zhang Liao didn't need to explain too much about the art of war and the situation, as he could see it clearly.

But to defeat Wuhou Yiyi, he couldn't think of any way at all.

I had to ask: "How do you plan to deploy? If you lose one more game, the situation will be out of control. The army's morale is low after losing consecutive battles. I am afraid that even Ling County will not be able to defend it, so they will be forced to withdraw from Guangling."

Zhang Liao said solemnly: "At this time, the only way is for the elite dead soldiers to retreat in a quick battle, destroy a part of them, break their momentum, and reassure the hearts of the people."

In fact, all Zhang Liao's strategy at the moment boils down to this sentence he said, to break his momentum and reassure everyone!
As one of the 72 generals of the Wu Temple, many people thought that Zhang Liao was carried into the Wu Temple entirely by Sun Quan.

In fact, his record of [-] million and [-] is too false, and it doesn't have much real impact.

What really demonstrated Zhang Liao's ability was the Battle of Bailang Mountain. At that time, due to Guo Jia's blind plan, Cao Cao's entire army raided Liaodong with light clothes, and was discovered early by the Wuhuan people in Bailang Mountain.

Cao Cao's main force was hundreds of miles away, with only a small number of troops around him, but he encountered a large number of Wuhuan's main cavalry in a hurry.

When the pawns met the captives, very few of Cao's troops wore armor. Since they were marching thousands of miles, the heavy armor was on the cart behind.As a result, Cao Jun was all in fear.

Only Zhang Liao was very courageous and insisted on marching.At this time, it was too late for Cao Jun to retreat, so Cao Cao awarded Zhang Liao his command, and Zhang Liao commanded the whole army to attack.Then he broke Wuhuan's main cavalry, cut off Shan Yutadun, and returned with 20 men and women.

This battle is comparable to Su Dingfang's magnificent record of leading [-] cavalry to raid the Western Turks and defeating [-] Western Turkic cavalry.

This can reflect Zhang Liao's bravery and ability to command troops.

Not long after Zhang Liao and Hou Cheng made the agreement, a scout hurriedly entered the camp, with smoke and fly ash on his face, his expression stable.

"It's not good, it's not good, our grain and grass in the direction of the Huaihe River were burned by the Jiangdong army, and thousands of stones of grain and grass were lost!"

"What? Lost thousands of stones of food and grass?"

"What? Marquis Wu's army is coming? How far is it from us? How many people? Are there any cavalry?"

Obviously, Zhang Liao and Hou Cheng had completely different concerns.

Ordinary generals only pay attention to the long sword of the horse, and the first focus of good generals is always food and grass.

Because as long as there is sufficient food and grass, even if the opponent has more horses and swords and more troops deployed, it will be difficult to easily defeat a well-defended army.

Especially under Lu Bu's command, good generals gathered, and Zhang Liao even stationed troops in Ling County to defend himself. Even if the Jiangdong army had a few thousand more troops and had a slight advantage, it might not be able to win.

But if there is not enough food and grass, then this battle will be lost!

And Zhang Liao knew very well that what his side lacked most was food and grass.

The general who led the Northern Expedition of the opposing army is definitely a good general in the world. His attack is directed at the vital point. Not only must he attack the enemy's defense, but he also knows the terrain of Xuzhou like the back of his hand!
That's right, the grain and grass in Ling County are transported by the Huaihe River on the southern route.

Geographically, Ling County is closer to Xiapizhouzhi, and it only takes three counties to get there by land from Xiapi to Ling County.But if thousands of peasants are asked to carry grain to Ling County to transport one stone of grain, three or even four stones of grain will be prepared for the peasants!
Because they need to eat food on the way, and they still have to carry food on their backs for the needs of the journey!

Why do you say that the food and grass go first before the soldiers and horses move?

That is to say, generals should plan grain and grass in advance, and calculate the consumption and cost of grain transportation.

Zhang Liao arrived at Ling County first. In addition to camping, he also surveyed the terrain along the road and planned the grain road.

Otherwise, the tens of thousands of troops, without a logistical plan, would have rushed over recklessly, without the need for the enemy to attack, and the food roads were not stable, it would be enough to directly collapse the tens of thousands of troops.

Therefore, Zhang Liao planned early on to transport grain by water, that is, the grain from Xiapi first went south from Sishui, merged into the Huaihe River, and then flowed downstream from the Huaihe River to Ling County.

Although this is a big circle, but because they are all downstream, and the tank boats transport more grain, a few ships can transport thousands of stones of grain, which can meet the needs of a thousand soldiers for a month.

Basically, only a small number of ships and a few more trips are needed to solve the logistics supply problem of the entire army.This is the most suitable method for Lu Bu, a prince who has just captured Xuzhou, to transport grain.After all, the resources he can mobilize are very limited.

Only a few tank ships can guarantee frontline warfare.There is no better food road option than this.

But Jiangdong's generals discovered the grain road at the first time and attacked decisively.

Zhang Liao was shocked by the opponent's vision, strategy and courage.

You must know that the grain road for water transportation in Ling County is in the west of Ling County, and it may be hundreds of miles away from Huaiyin in the southeast of Ling County!
Just two days after the news of Cheng Lian's defeat came back, the opponent decisively attacked Ling County's Liang Dao. This general's talent and bravery are absolutely worthy of being called a famous general in the world.

(End of this chapter)