mtl008 Chapter 231: The Final Battle (4)
Chapter 231: The Final Battle (4)
Preparations have been completed long ago. Now that Zhao Yun has returned, everything is ready, and we can take action immediately.
Zhang Fei quickly led his troops to the front of the Wei army's formation. Seeing that the Wei army had already completed its fortifications and was ready for battle, he ordered an attack without further ado.
Upon receiving the order to attack, Jiang Wei personally led his troops, pushing grain carts towards the Wei army camp. The grain carts were not loaded with grain, but with rows of timber.
The reason for loading timber onto the grain carts was simple: firstly, it could be used as a shield to block the arrows of the Wei army; secondly, the grain carts could be used to probe the trenches and traps of the Wei army, thus avoiding unnecessary casualties.
The Wei army had not retreated here for long, so Zhang Fei concluded that the Wei army did not have time to build fortifications and that their defenses were not very complete. He could easily find out by using grain carts.
The mountain ravines were deep and the roads were narrow, only allowing three or four vehicles to pass side by side. Jiang Wei led his men to push the carts and struggle towards the Wei army.
Xiahou Ba's pupils constricted as he watched the Shu army's supply wagons rushing towards him. He knew what the Shu army was planning, but he was helpless and could only fire arrows in return. Moreover, he did not have catapults or ballistae, so he could only attack with ordinary arrows, which naturally had little effect. When the Shu army saw the Wei army firing arrows, they decisively stopped the wagons and crawled under them, waiting for the rain of arrows to pass before continuing their advance.
Jiang Wei quickly pushed the grain cart to within 30 meters of the Wei army, and then mercilessly fell into the horse trap.
With the chariot falling into the ditch, the people were left without any protection, and the Wei army seized the opportunity to decisively shoot arrows.
Fortunately, Jiang Wei was prepared. The five-man cart-pushing team carried two shields. The moment the cart fell into the pit, the shield soldiers rushed forward to block the arrows for their teammates and slowly retreated.
During the retreat, Jiang Wei did not forget to carefully observe through his shield, and after seeing the depth and width of the horse pit, he returned to Zhang Fei's side to report the situation.
Jiang Wei said, "Third General, the Wei army's horse traps are only one meter deep and less than two meters wide, and the wooden stakes in the pits are scattered. It is obvious that they were hastily put together in a hurry."
Zhang Fei said, "That shouldn't be underestimated. Even the crudest horse trap is still a trap. If you fall in during a charge, you'll become a sitting duck for the Wei army. Let's proceed according to the original plan."
Under Zhang Fei's command, the army launched another attack on the Wei army. This time, the shield bearers led the charge, followed by soldiers carrying sacks. When they reached the pit, they threw the sacks over their shields and into the pit, then rushed back to fetch the second batch.
The shield bearers didn't leave; they continued to wait by the pit with their shields raised. The shields were quite heavy, and carrying them back and forth was too tiring; it was much easier to just wait in place.
The main reason was that the Wei army did not have heavy weapons such as ballistae and catapults, and ordinary arrows could not penetrate shields and could not cause damage to shield soldiers. In that case, why bother running? Wouldn't it be better to stay in place and rest?
The sack soldiers weren't so lucky. They ran back and forth carrying sacks, but fortunately, the Wei army's horse traps weren't deep. In just two or three trips, they filled most of them, covering the bamboo spikes. The shield soldiers, braving the arrows, stepped on the sacks and successfully crossed the horse traps to continue their formation.
This made things easier for the sack soldiers. They would come to the pit, untie the sacks, pour the soil into the pit, and quickly retreat. The Shu army didn't have many sacks, so they couldn't afford to waste them.
The horse trap was quickly filled in, but the soil was too soft for carts to pass through, so Zhang Fei had to order the shield bearers to continue advancing to test if there was a second horse trap.
The result was no. Xiahou Ba had only retreated here for a short time; how could he have had time to dig so many pits?
Now that everything was alright, things became much easier. Zhang Fei immediately ordered a general offensive and even personally led the charge.
He was prepared to deal with his brother-in-law himself. He didn't trust anyone else to do it. On the battlefield, swords and spears have no eyes, and soldiers don't know their own strength. What if they killed his brother-in-law?
As for reminding Zhao Yun earlier, that was just in case, not to force Zhao Yun to deal with Xiahou Ba.
Zhang Fei led his troops and quickly rushed to the Wei army's deer antlers. He ordered his personal guards to put rafts on the deer antlers, and then he was the first to step onto the rafts and charge towards the Wei army.
Seeing Zhang Fei charging towards him, the nearby Wei soldiers immediately launched a counterattack, with more than a dozen spears thrusting at him simultaneously. In the distance, Wei archers also released their bowstrings, and in an instant, spears and arrows rained down on Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei remained completely calm. He leaped aside to avoid the spear tip and landed on the Wei soldier's spear shaft. Then, he fell to the side to avoid the arrows and rolled down the shaft, crashing into the arms of the Wei soldier holding the spear and knocking him to the ground.
Zhang Fei continued rolling over the Wei soldiers, swinging his spear wildly as he rolled, forcing back all the Wei soldiers who wanted to take advantage of the chaos.
At the same time, Jiang Wei, holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, followed Zhang Fei into the enemy camp on a raft, braving arrows. He forcefully slammed his shield at the nearest Wei soldier, then charged at the Wei soldier who was trying to assassinate Zhang Fei, covering Zhang Fei's ascent.
Zhang Fei was an extremely experienced fighter. Even without Jiang Wei's cover, he could stand up. With cover, it was even easier. After forcing back the nearby Wei soldiers, he pressed down on the heads of the Wei soldiers beneath him and quickly stood up. As soon as he was steady, he swung his spear and charged at the Wei soldiers.
A fierce general like Zhang Fei becomes a human tank whenever he charges into the enemy camp, causing the Wei army to retreat in defeat while simultaneously covering the rapid advance of the main force behind him.
Seeing their old general so brave, the Han army's morale soared. They quickly used various tools to leap over the deer antlers and charge into the enemy camp, rushing behind Zhang Fei to protect his left and right flanks, allowing Zhang Fei to charge forward without worrying about his safety.
Zhang Fei lived up to expectations. After glancing around, he decisively charged toward Xiahou Ba's banner on the hillside, shouting as he fought, "Xiahou Zhongquan, I am your brother-in-law Zhang Yide! Your sister is waiting for you in Chengdu. Come home with your brother-in-law!"
His voice was so loud that it carried far, and the nearby Wei soldiers were stunned for a moment by his shout.
What's going on? We're at war, why are you all acting like relatives?
Seeing this, Jiang Wei quickly explained, "Listen up, Wei soldiers in front! Your General Xiahou is General Zhang's brother-in-law. Why are you getting involved in this reunion of brothers-in-law? If you know what's good for you, surrender obediently. We're all family."
The Han army behind him shouted in unison, repeating Jiang Wei's words to let more Wei soldiers know about the relationship between Zhang Fei and Xiahou Ba.
Xiahou Ba, who was standing on the hillside, naturally heard it as well. His already gloomy face instantly became even uglier. He didn't want to acknowledge Zhang Fei as a relative from the bottom of his heart. Don't forget that his father was killed by the Shu army.
Xiahou Ba immediately commanded his army to counterattack, engaging in a bloody battle with the Shu army on this not-so-steep earthen slope.
At the same time, Zhao Yun also arrived at the designated location and led the three thousand troops who had been lying in ambush there to launch an attack on the flank of the Wei army.
When Zhao Yun arrived, Zhang Fei had already charged into the enemy camp, and the Wei army's attention was completely drawn to Zhang Fei.
Without saying a word, Zhao Yun rode his warhorse toward the deer antlers, but unfortunately he was not riding his own Jade Lion, but an ordinary warhorse, which could not jump over the deer antlers at all.
But Zhao Yun didn't expect this inferior horse to jump very high. He rushed to the front of the deer antlers, immediately leaped, and jumped off the horse's back. The moment he landed, he stuck the tip of his spear into the ground to offset the impact and land smoothly. Then he swung his spear and charged towards the Wei army.
With Zhao Yun blocking the way in front, the Han army behind them encountered little resistance and easily leaped over the deer antlers, following behind Zhao Yun as they charged towards the Wei army.
The Wei army before them was the one led by Zhang He and Xiahou Ba who had attacked Wang Ping from both sides. Their morale had already been greatly damaged by Wang Ping, and now they were facing a fierce attack from Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun. They could not hold on for more than half an hour before they began to flee.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Xiahou Ba decisively ordered a retreat. However, under the fierce attack of Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, a safe retreat was not easy. They were quickly driven into a rout by Zhang Fei.
In a rout, it's impossible to maintain formation. Soldiers scramble to escape, some falling and trampling, some being stabbed by their own men's weapons—all sorts of chaos ensued.
In this situation, how could he possibly go fast? He hadn't gone far before his own men blocked his path.
Zhang Fei was overjoyed at this and led his army straight to Xiahou Ba. While attacking, he shouted, "Brother Zhongquan, stop struggling and come back to Chengdu with me!"
Xiahou Ba's lips trembled violently upon hearing this. "You're a few months older than my father, how dare you call me brother?"
Seeing Zhang Fei getting closer and closer, and with his escape route to the south blocked by friendly forces, Xiahou Ba had no choice but to lead his personal guards eastward.
Unexpectedly, he was blocked by the Shu army less than five miles away. Standing at the forefront of the Shu army was Wang Ping, with whom he had fought a bitter battle for half a day at Dawanchuan.
Looking at Wang Ping's familiar figure, Xiahou Ba sighed with despair, "It's over, it's really over this time!"