Chapter 187 Why do you have to follow Lu Bu like a dog? Lao Liu can finally stand up straight! A drowning dog should be beaten!
As a strategist, knowing yourself and your enemy is naturally basic.

How could he not have thought of this when Lu Bu defected to Yuan Shu and his most elite Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry also came under his command?

The best way to deal with cavalry is to use cavalry to counter cavalry.

Therefore, before this battle, he advised Lao Liu to order Zhang Xiu to lead a thousand Xiliang cavalrymen and hide behind the large formation.

The purpose is to wait for the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry to restrain Yuan Shu.

"Fortunately, the military advisor had foresight and arranged for the Xiliang cavalry early..."

Liu Bei nodded slightly, raised his whip and shouted:
"Send a message to Zhang Wenjin to lead the Xiliang Iron Cavalry to attack and intercept the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry!"

The command flag fluttered like the wind.

Behind the formation.

Zhang Xiu, who had been unable to contain himself for a long time, immediately became eager to fight when he saw the signal flag waving.

"Zhang's army soldiers, listen up, it's time for us to show our power."

"Follow me to fight our way out, defeat the Bingzhou Wolf Riders, and capture Yuan Shu alive!"

Zhang Xiu let out a long roar, rode his horse, raised his spear, and rushed out first.

"Capture Yuan Shu alive!"

"Defeat the Wolf Riders!"

A thousand Xiliang knights shouted loudly and galloped out on their horses.

A large number of iron cavalry rushed out from behind the formation, stirring up a cloud of dust, and pounced towards the five hundred wolf riders who were making a detour.

Yuan's army formation.

When Yuan Shu saw the dust rising behind Liu's army and the cavalry rolling out, the ferocious and conceited look on his face instantly turned into surprise.

"Cavalry?"

"That big-eared thief actually hid cavalry behind the formation?"

Yuan Shu's voice trembled, and he looked at Yang Hong with an embarrassed look.

Yang Hong's forehead was covered with sweat and he looked equally stunned. He stammered and was unable to answer Yuan Shu's question.

Chen Gong's expression changed, and he said anxiously:

"Your Majesty, after Liu Bei defeated Zhang Ji, he accepted his nephew Zhang Xiu as his captor, and he also had a troop of Xiliang cavalry under his command!"

"Liu Bei must have expected that we would have Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, so he prepared the Xiliang Iron Cavalry in advance, just to restrain the Wolf Cavalry!"

"Looking at the number of enemy cavalry, they should be greater than ours. Your Majesty, please hurry—"

Chen Gong originally wanted to ask Yuan Shu to order the withdrawal of the Wolf Cavalry, but he had to take the words back when they came to his lips.

It's too late.

The current situation is difficult to back down, and the collision between the two cavalry units is imminent.

If we order the Wolf Cavalry to retreat at this time, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry will take advantage of the situation to pursue them and they will be defeated all the way.

At that time, the entire Yuan army line will be crushed by Liu Bei's Xiliang cavalry.

Thirty thousand troops are finished!
Chen Gong wanted Lu Bu to seize power from Yuan Shu, but he didn't want to lose all these 30,000 troops here.

The advice to retreat had to be taken back as soon as it came to his lips.

"Your Majesty, I only have 500 wolf riders. Looking at the number of Xiliang Iron Cavalry, they are at least twice as many as ours."

"Your Majesty, please withdraw the wolf riders immediately."

However, Lu Bu did not have as many thoughts as Chen Gong. Seeing that the Wolf Cavalry was in danger, he naturally felt pained and could not wait to take them back.

The words trailed off.

Yang Hong suddenly became furious and shouted:

"The two armies are about to engage in battle. If we withdraw the wolf cavalry, our army will be in danger of being overwhelmed by the enemy!"

"Aren't your wolf cavalry known as the strongest iron cavalry in the world? So what if the Xiliang cavalry is twice as strong?"

"Your Majesty, we cannot order the Wolf Riders to withdraw!"

Things had come to this point, and Yang Hong had no choice but to take the risk and go all the way.

He placed all his hopes on Zhang Liao's Wolf Cavalry being able to defeat the Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

As long as Zhang Liao wins, he will be able to take advantage of the situation to break through Liu Jun's flank, thus reversing the overall defeat, and the victory will still belong to Yuan Shu.

His overall plan is still brilliant!

Yuan Shu naturally understood the reason, so he gritted his teeth and said:
"Yang Qing is right. The Bingzhou Wolf Riders are absolutely not capable of this. I don't believe that Zhang Liao is no match for Zhang Xiu!"

"I just don't believe that my Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry is no match for the big-eared thief Xiliang Cavalry!"

Lu Bu had nothing to say. He could only sweat and look anxiously at the battlefield ahead.

The glance he gave Yuan Shu showed murderous intent becoming more and more intense.

In front, Liu Jun’s flank.

The two cavalry divisions collided head-on.

The dull sound of flesh colliding rang out one after another.

The screams of soldiers, the neighing of horses, and the clashing of weapons were all loud and clear.

The Xiliang Iron Cavalry and the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry engaged in a fierce battle.

In the chaos of the army.

Zhang Xiu brandished his spear, shooting left and right, reaping the lives of the enemy cavalry.

In the blood mist, he locked onto an enemy general at a glance.

The enemy general held a sharp sword in his hand, and he was also killing his own soldiers with it.

There is no doubt that he is the commander of this cavalry.

The Wolf Cavalry are Lu Bu's elite troops. Lu Bu is injured and cannot lead them personally. The only one who can command the cavalry under his command must be Zhang Liao.

The enemy general in front of him must be Zhang Liao.

"Zhang Xiu is here, Zhang Liao, how dare you be so arrogant!"

With a loud shout, Zhang Xiu urged his horse and rushed towards Zhang Liao, dragging his bloody spear.

When Zhang Liao heard the loud shout, he looked up suddenly and saw a general as strong as a lion or tiger rushing towards him.

"Zhang Xiu..."

Zhang Liao frowned, took a deep breath, and slashed away with his long sword with the force of thunder. Zhang Xiu filled the blood spear in his hand with full force and whistled away.

"Bang!"

There was a metallic sound and sparks flew.

The knife and the spear came into contact with each other, and the two riders passed each other, and their qi and blood stagnated slightly.

"Zhang Liao, my master once said that you are an extraordinary martial artist. You are indeed extraordinary."

Zhang Xiu turned his horse and praised him, then pointed his bloody spear:
"My lord has always admired you. Our General Yunchang always refers to you as his brother."

"Zhang Wenyuan, why do you have to follow Lu Bu's four-surname servants and serve the traitor Yuan Shu as a lackey? Why don't you just surrender to my master?"

Zhang Xiu actually tried to persuade Zhang Liao to surrender on the battlefield.

Zhang Liao frowned slightly, but said in a deep voice:
"I have always respected Liu Xuande as a man, and I also regard Guan Yu as my brother."

"But Lord Wen has treated me well, so I, Zhang Liao, will follow him till death and never leave him."

"Zhang Xiu, don't mess with my mind, I will fight to the death!"

After saying this, Zhang Liao spurred his horse and drew his sword, charging towards Zhang Xiu again.

Zhang Xiu's attempt to persuade Zhang Liao to surrender was just a try. He thought that Zhang Liao would never surrender in front of the battlefield, so the murderous intent in his eyes rekindled, and he spurred his horse and raised his spear to kill him.

The sword and the gun collided again, and the two riders fought in a group.

In a blink of an eye, more than twenty moves had passed. The two men's martial arts skills were almost the same, and the fight became undecided for a while.

On the battlefield, the cavalry confrontation has already determined the winner.

The Bingzhou Wolf Riders are all warriors from the north, and the Xiliang Iron Riders are mostly powerful and brave soldiers, all of whom are top-notch cavalrymen of the time.

If the two are evenly matched, the fight will naturally be difficult to determine the winner.

Unfortunately, in the battle of Yanzhou, Lu Bu's Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry suffered heavy casualties, and was further injured by Cao Cao when he lost Xuzhou. By the time he defected to Yuan Shu, his Wolf Cavalry was less than 300 in number.

Huainan was short of horses again, and Lu Bu had to scrape together enough to barely restore the number of wolf riders to more than 500.

Liu Bei occupied Nanyang and bordered Guanzhong through Wugu Pass, so he could easily purchase horses from Guanzhong.

He even relied on Zhang Xiu's appeal to recruit some Xiliang cavalry from Guanzhong as reinforcements.

The two teams were evenly matched in strength. The Xiliang Iron Cavalry was twice as many as the enemy's Wolf Cavalry. How could Zhang Liao possibly win?

While he was fighting with Zhang Xiu, the Wolf Riders had been killed and wounded, and the outcome was clear.

"These wolf riders are the last of Marquis Wen's family. If they are all destroyed here, how can I explain to Marquis Wen?"

Zhang Liao quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind, and immediately put all his strength into his arms to block Zhang Xiu's long sword.

Then he turned his horse around, jumped out of the battle group, and shouted:
"Retreat, Wolf Riders, retreat—"

Zhang Liao didn't dare to fight anymore and fled screaming.

The several hundred remaining wolf riders, as if they had been pardoned, turned their horses and fled northward.

The Wolf Riders have been defeated!

Zhang Xiu also disdained to pursue Zhang Liao, pointed his bloody spear forward, and shouted:
"Xiliang Iron Cavalry, listen to my orders, follow me and charge straight into Yuan Shu's central army, and crush the Huainan army in one fell swoop!"

The Xiliang cavalry roared and galloped, and with the power of defeating the wolf cavalry, they attacked Yuan Shu.

Wherever they passed, the cavalry rolled over and broke through the flank of Yuan's army. They were invincible all the way and broke through their military formation.

Yuan's army was already retreating step by step and showing signs of not being able to hold on. How could they hold on any longer when they were stabbed in the middle by the cavalry?

Falling apart!

The morale of Yuan's 30,000 troops completely collapsed. Like a frightened bird, they threw away their weapons and began to flee northward.

Liu Jun is the commander of the army.

"Jinglue, we won, we won—"

Liu Bei was ecstatic and shouted excitedly at Xiao Fang.

Never before had a victory surprised him to such an extent.

Xiao Fang smiled, and naturally knew why Lao Liu was so excited.

The value of this victory is too great for Lao Liu.

When Lao Liu was in charge of the troops, he was quite successful in small-scale battles, winning more battles than defeats.

Since getting his assistance, he has won many great victories along the way thanks to his brilliant strategies.

However, he has never won a victory when commanding a large army and engaging the enemy head-on.

When he was in Xuzhou, he was defeated several times in a head-on battle against Yuan Shu.

In today's battle, he finally defeated Yuan Shu head-on with an upright army without relying on any strategies!

This victory not only meant revenge for the defeat in Xuzhou that year, but also proved to the world that the army Liu Bei led was an elite one.

After this battle, he had enough confidence and courage even to face Cao Cao head-on.

"My lord, let's take advantage of the victory and beat the fallen dog."

"In this battle, we must defeat Yuan Shu completely and at least take down Hefei City to ensure that our Yangtze River waterway will not be threatened again. We can then destroy Sun Ce in peace!"

Xiao Fang pointed his feather fan to the north, setting a target for Lao Liu.

Liu Bei readily agreed, drew his sword, and shouted:

"Pass the order down, the entire army will pursue the enemy!"

The war drums sounded again.

Generals Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Taishi Ci, each led their own troops and began to pursue the fleeing enemy like tigers and wolves.

The central army of Huainan Army.

At this moment, Yuan Shu's fat body had become as stiff as ice, frozen on the horse.

His eyes bulged open as he stared at the defeat in front of him in astonishment, as if he had seen the most bizarre scene in his life.

"The Wolf Riders were defeated?"

"My 30,000-man army was defeated?"

"I actually lost to that big-eared thief?"

Yuan Shu's voice was hoarse and trembling, and the arrogance and pride on his fleshy face had disappeared, replaced by endless shock and confusion.

(End of this chapter)