Li Jue and Guo Si received Dong Zhuo's orders and immediately turned their horses around, charging towards Cao Cao's army.
The two armies met in less than an hour.
"Zhi Ran, you set up a formation to face Cao Cao head-on. I'll go to support Xu Rong's remaining army and then attack his flank. Cao Cao will definitely be defeated under the pincer attack of the two.”
Li Jue gladly agreed and took up his formation on the plain.
Cao Cao saw that the cavalrymen on the plains were in a mess, and he could not see the end of them either. He immediately gave the order to stop the pursuit.
"Since the Flying Bear Army has appeared here so quickly, that Dong thief must not be far away. Ziqian, lead 3,000 elite cavalry to bypass the Flying Bear Army and pursue Dong Zhuo.”
Zhang Wu thought about it. The Flying Bear Army had at least 20,000 soldiers, while Cao Cao's main force only had 5,000 cavalry. If he gave him 3,000 elite cavalry, he would not be able to fight on the main battlefield. He would definitely be pressed to the ground by the Western Liang cavalry.
"My lord, there is no need for 3,000.”
"Don't mess around. Dong Zhuo has more than 100,000 armored soldiers with him.”
"It's fine. Since it's a bluff, a hundred cavalry is enough.”
Zhang Wu could clearly see that there were only 5,000 cavalrymen in his division. Even if they were all taken away, they wouldn't be able to do anything to Dong Zhuo.
Boss Cao only wanted to use the opportunity to chase Dong Zhuo to gain a wave of prestige. As long as the world saw that it was their Cao army that had thrown an egg at a stone and pledged their loyalty to the Han Dynasty without fear of death. Especially when the vassal armies were heading to Luoyang to divide the spoils, this kind of loyalty was particularly noble.
From now on, the Cao army would be able to occupy the righteous side, and those with lofty aspirations would be willing to join them. This was the chain effect.
Zhang Wu brandished his spear and rode his horse to the center of the army. He said loudly,"Those who are not afraid of death will follow me to pursue Dong Zhuo. Those who step out will be rewarded with ten gold coins, and those who die will be supported by the East County Governor's Mansion with a hundred gold coins.”
With such a great reward, there would definitely be brave men. In just a few moments, Zhang Wu had picked out a hundred men and bypassed the main force of the flying bear army from the flank, heading west.
"General, there is a small group of cavalrymen bypassing our main force and heading west. Should we pursue them?”
Li Jue naturally saw Zhang Wu's troops, but what could these two do?
"There's no need to panic. We'll attack Cao Cao with all our might.”
"Yes."
Zhang Wu had only taken a hundred cavalry, but Cao Cao was still in a difficult situation.
The Flying Bear Army was the overlord of cavalry. Other than Gongsun Zan's white horse, there was no other cavalry in the world that could fight with them.
However, Gongsun Zan only had 2,000 white horse followers. Only the wealthy Dong Zhuo could produce an elite troop of 10,000 cavalry.
Cao Cao had already achieved his goal. What he needed to do now was to help Zhang Wu stall for time and earn some reputation.
"Pass down my order. Retreat slowly. Don't confront the Western Liang Army head-on. Retreat to the vicinity of Xingyang.”
"Yes."
Li Jue saw that the Cao army was slowly retreating and laughed disdainfully."I thought that Cao Aman was really not afraid of death and would use his life to serve the Han Dynasty. Now, it seems that he is only so. However, it is too late to retreat now.”
"My lord, we can't retreat anymore. Once the Western Liang cavalry charges, they will scatter our army in an instant.”
Cao Cao turned around and saw that the army was still in order. He shook his head and said,""It's fine. Continue retreating."
Just as the flying bear army charged at full speed and was about to break into the Cao army's formation, a large group of refugees and farmers appeared on the horizon, taking over the pipeline with their families.
To the west of Xingyang, the terrain was not flat, and the roadside was covered with dense forests. It was difficult for the cavalrymen to charge side by side, so the advantage of the Flying Bear Army in numbers could not be brought into play.
When Cao Cao was chasing Xu Rong, he had noticed the speed at which a large number of civilians were migrating. Therefore, he had predicted from the beginning that the Flying Bear Army would not be able to charge at full speed.
It wasn't that the Western Liang army cherished human lives, but when they charged, if the cavalry of the front army stepped on and injured the civilians, not only would the official roads be congested, but the rear army would also be unaware of the situation of the front army. If they charged rashly, it was very likely that a large-scale stampede would occur.
By then, half of the flying bear army would be wounded before the battle officially started.
Li Jue ordered the messenger in exasperation,"Disperse the people and don't block the official road. Those who disobey will be killed without mercy.”
After the Western Liang army received the military order, they waved their steel knives in an attempt to disperse these sudden outlaws. However, there were more than ten million residents in Luoyang, and the people behind them had no idea what was happening in front of them. They just dragged their families forward.
The soldiers at the front wanted to retreat in the face of the threat of death, but they were forced to move forward by the crowd. In this way, there was a natural human barrier between the Cao army and the Western Liang army.
Before Li Jue's main force joined the battle, Guo Si's small forces did not dare to charge. If they could not take care of each other, their cavalry would be easily divided and eaten up.
On the other side, Zhang Wu was leading a hundred riders to the west.
Along the way, the Western Liang soldiers who were escorting their belongings were all killed, and Dong Zhuo's box of financial reports was overturned.
"General is benevolent. In this day and age, there are not many people who can distribute wealth to the people.”The knight on Zhang Wu's side praised with an admiring look.
"Benevolence my ass. We only have a hundred people, so even if we get this wealth, we can't transport it back. Right now, we're using it as bait to attract the refugees to snatch it, but it can also create chaos and completely separate the pursuers behind us.”
A hundred cavalry chasing Dong Zhuo, if done well, would shock the world. If not careful, even Zhang Wu would die here.
He couldn't even care about himself now, so how could he care about the lives of these refugees?
"General, look, the Han Dynasty's dragon flag, and the emperor's carriage in front.”
Zhang Wu felt his scalp go numb.
The black armored soldiers around the dragon flag stretched for nearly ten miles, and there were at least seventy to eighty thousand elite soldiers.
Although Zhang Wu had done many things that required him to break through the array by himself, there were at most a thousand people at that time. The red steed could kill back and forth with a few leaps, and he could leave at any time.
However, even if he was the reincarnated Overlord of West Chu, he would not be able to retreat unscathed from such a dense army formation.
Even someone as strong as Zhang Wu was afraid, let alone the surrounding cavalry.
"General, what should we do?"
"Hang on from afar. Be careful not to be surrounded by the enemy.”
"Yes."
As the night sky turned dark, Dong Zhuo had no idea what was going on, but he had set up a huge bonfire in front of the main camp and started to roast meat on it. Perhaps he really felt that no one was afraid of death and would dare to attack his camp directly.
But what he didn't know was that there was someone who wasn't afraid of death watching his every move less than five miles away from his camp.
The golden lamb leg emitted an alluring fragrance. The officials who had been on the road for a day smelled the fragrance and unconsciously gathered around.
"I really thought you sour scholars could fill your stomachs with just your words of benevolence, righteousness, and morality." Dong Zhuo laughed.”As he spoke, he threw a golden lamb leg on the ground, as if he was really chasing away a wild dog.
A strong sense of humiliation rose in everyone's hearts.
Usually, they were all respected big shots. Now, this Western Liang martial artist actually dared to bully them like this.
However, with the sharp steel knife in front of them, everyone dared not to say anything. This might be the sorrow of scholars. If they wanted to be righteous, they had to starve and even lose their lives. If they wanted to lose their integrity, the noble they usually built would not allow them to lower their heads.
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