Chapter 197 Guan Yu vs. Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan (Part )
Above the camp.

When Guan Yu saw Cao's army coming back, he immediately noticed something unusual.

"Cavalry, follow me to fight!"

The third song was handed over to Qu Junhou to guard the camp, and Guan Yu took the lead and rushed out of the camp.

Cup of tea.

Guan Yu saw that the first two rows of soldiers in the circular formation had fallen in a pool of blood.

Although more than 300 people replaced nearly 200 cavalrymen, Guan Yu understood that these were the elite naval forces, and each one of them was Jin Mao's treasure.

"Change!"

Guan Yu shouted, "The small formation merges into the big formation!"

At the same time Guan Yu rushed out, the two Xiahou brothers also discovered each other at the same time.

"The enemy general appears!"

The two men rode their horses excitedly, no longer paying attention to the changing turtle formation, and only wanted to take the enemy's head.

"Humph!"

"Well done!"

Guan Yu had no place to vent his anger, and being able to get two heads would be a reward for the more than 300 elite souls who died.

In his eyes, no matter who they were, they were just traitors.

He immediately held the reins in one hand and the knife in the other, and started with the signature move.

Xiahou Dun, who was rushing in the front, felt his hair stand on end. He immediately realized that Guan Yu was not someone to be trifled with, so he slowed down his horse and rode at the same speed as Xiahou Yuan.

"Coward!" Xiahou Yuan sneered disdainfully, then sped up his horse and rushed towards Guan Yu.

"Miaocai, be careful!"

Before Xiahou Dun could warn them, the two riders collided.

"boom!"

There was a loud bang.

In the blink of an eye, Xiahou Dun only saw a column of blood rising into the sky, but there was no trace of Xiahou Yuan.

"Wonderful talent!"

Xiahou Dun was furious, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets, and he raised his long sword to chop at Guan Yu.

Showing off one's sword in front of Guan Gong!

Fortunately, Guan Yu had just chopped down Xiahou Yuan's horse and had not yet retracted his strength, otherwise, Xiahou Dun would have been the first to die under his sword.

It turned out that Xiahou Yuan knew at the first moment that he was no match for the extremely powerful chop just now, and he instinctively leaned back and raised his lance to block it.

But Guan Yu's sword was full of hatred. Although Xiahou Yuan blocked the attack, his knuckles were broken and he was thrown out of the saddle by the huge force, losing half of his combat effectiveness.

So, the war horse became the scapegoat.

This is the truth behind Xiahou Dun losing sight of Xiahou Yuan!

It's too late, but it's soon.

Guan Yu drew the sword from his waist with his left hand and struggled to block Xiahou Dun's powerful blow.

"Oh!"

This time it was Guan Yu's turn to be in danger, and his sword shattered before he could barely block it.

The two men rode past on horseback. Guan Yu continued to ride without stopping. He pulled back his right hand, grasped the center of the sword handle, and pulled his left hand behind his back, and the Green Dragon Crescent Blade drew an arc.

Several war horses carrying half a human body appeared in front of Guan Yu's right.

He held the end of the handle with his left hand and released it with his right hand. The crescent-shaped sword slashed 270 degrees again, spinning like an electric fan, and all the Cao family cavalry in front of him were killed.

Xiahou Dun also wanted to charge into the enemy camp like Guan Yu did.

However, these cavalrymen not only had good food, but also had some knowledge of cavalry formations, and they rode in groups of three.

Xiahou Dun had to face the pincer attack from two cavalrymen every time, and it was difficult for him to achieve success.

When Guan Yu killed his way through Xiahou Yuan's cavalry, he saw Cao Cao leading the last 500 cavalrymen approaching not far away.

"Oops!"

Guan Yu knew that something was wrong. The last round of fighting made him realize that the two Xiahou brothers were not ordinary people. It would be difficult to kill both of them with one sword, and it would not be done in a short time.

Now Cao Cao is leading new forces to support us. If we continue to fight alone, we will definitely suffer losses.

Adhering to the guerrilla warfare principle of taking advantage and running away, Guan Yu immediately turned his horse around and charged in again.

the other side.

Cao Cao was stunned to see Guan Yu killing his way through the entire army on horseback, and he even looked at him before charging back.

He couldn't help but be horrified in his heart: "The governor of Yangzhou actually has such a brave general?!"

"It is impossible to defeat him!"

Cao Cao immediately made a decision: "Sound the horn to call back the troops!"

He led 500 cavalrymen to support the two Xiahou brothers to prevent them from being killed by Guan Yu again.

Guan Yu was the first to hear the enemy's signal to retreat, but he did not rashly order a pursuit, but instead killed his way back to the army formation.

"One song forms a shield wall, and the second song puts down the shield and picks up the spear."

Guan Yu, who looked like a bloody man, kept giving orders and forming a formation to defend against the cavalry's attack.

Everyone in the navy and cavalry was very obedient.

No matter how many doubts there were about Guan Yu in the past, they have all been explained today.

Like military generals, soldiers also compete for strength and victory. A military general with extremely high martial arts skills is often more prestigious.

Half an hour later, the two armies separated.

Cao Cao felt extremely painful.

Xiahou Yuan was seriously injured, and Xiahou Dun only brought back more than 500 cavalrymen, and lost half of his men in a siege battle!

Cao Cao finally realized the true nature of Jinmao’s army. The rumors were not exaggerated at all, and were even modest.

You know, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Cao Cao was the Cavalry Commander, leading the cavalry. He was invincible in the wild and no one could stop him.

This was the first time that they suffered a great loss at the hands of the infantry.

As far as Cao Cao knew, the strongest unit under Zhu Jun at that time, Sun Jian's troops, could barely achieve this level.

At that time, Sun Jian had only a thousand men under his command, less than fifteen hundred, but look at the opposite side, there were three thousand men!
The most terrifying thing is that Cao Cao doesn’t know how many such elite troops Jin Mao has under his command.

If it's all 30,000, that would be too scary.

"Can you leave your name in the future?"

Before leaving, Cao Cao really wanted to know who defeated him.

Guan Yu rode out on his horse, clasped his fists and said, "Vice Admiral of the Navy, Guan Yunchang!"

Navy?!
Cao Cao almost died. After fighting for a long time, a naval general came and almost chopped two of his most powerful men alive.

He is actually a navy!

"From your accent, I can tell you're not from the South."

Cao Cao began to try to get close to him: "It seems to be in the Sili area."

Guan Yu was a little excited, clasped his fists and said: "You are really amazing, I am originally from Jie County, Hedong."

"No wonder his riding skills are so superb." Cao Cao exclaimed: "So he is the Mikawa Knight."

The Three Rivers refer to Hedong County, Henei County, and Henan County.

This is the Han Dynasty's top choice for recruiting cavalry.

The two sides, who had just been fighting to the death, were now looking at their respective commanders chatting in confusion.

And this is precisely what makes Cao Cao so powerful. He took advantage of Guan Yu's pride and complacency after his victory.

In addition, cavalry has extremely strong mobility, and Guan Yu does not have lethal weapons such as large-scale archers and crossbows. This is why Cao Cao was so confident in his trickery.

"You made me suffer such a great loss this time."

"I, Cao Mengde, will never give up!"

"Wait, then."

"Who knows, one night I might launch a night attack and take back everything I have lost!" After saying that, Cao Cao turned around, kicked his horse, and rode away.

Guan Yu was left with a worried look on his face.

This was another trick of Cao Cao to win over Guan Yu. Whether Guan Yu believed it or not, he had to be on tenterhooks every day. Especially at night, a timid person would not be able to sleep soundly.

The leader of Guan Yu's cavalry stepped forward and asked worriedly, "Captain, are you troubled by what the enemy general said?"

Guan Yu's frown relaxed, and he chuckled and said, "I'm just worried about who will stand guard tonight."

"I don't know which unlucky guys will suffer in the next few days."

"Or, whoever is the coward will stand guard at night, so that when the enemy comes, he can be the first to run away."

Everyone laughed. Guan Yu's joke was not funny at all, but they had just experienced a great war and were still immersed in the pain of losing their comrades. This laughter did dilute the pain a lot.

The captain still asked with concern: "Captain Guan, are you really not making any more preparations?"

"I think that enemy general is no ordinary man. Even though half of his men were killed or wounded, he still remained calm and laughed as he talked about what happened."

Guan Yu comforted him, "Don't worry."

"Just follow the envoy's arrangements. Every night patrol will be placed ten miles away and strictly follow the wartime practice."

"Nothing will go wrong."

There is no way anything could go wrong, Guan Yu added silently in his mind, I have never seen anyone as rigorous as you.

If this can be attacked at night, it can only be said that the enemy is really powerful. If you encounter such an enemy, you deserve to be attacked at night.

You know, according to wartime practice, one-tenth of the cavalry patrolled every night, most of them in fixed ranges in four directions, and a small number of knights were responsible for patrolling within a five-mile range.

Even if the scouts at ten kilometers don't spot the enemy, they can still spot them at five kilometers.

Guan Yu really couldn't think of anyone who could have such a strict patrol system and also let a large number of enemy troops launch a night attack.

There were no air raids in this era.

the other side.

The Xiahou brothers were also very curious.

"The captain is really going to launch a night attack?"

Cao Cao slowed down his horse, pointed his whip at Xiahou Yuan's bleeding hands and said, "You really don't have a long memory."

"Can't you see the psychological strategy?"

"Let you read more books. You usually like to be brave and aggressive."

Xiahou Dun said, "Captain, I think a night attack is feasible."

"As the Art of War says, attack the enemy by surprise."

"We didn't expect it, and the enemy certainly didn't expect it either."

Cao Cao was delighted and said, "As long as Yuan Rang has this intention, I am satisfied."

"It's worth all my years of cultivation."

Xiahou Dun understood what Cao Cao meant and said with regret, "What a good opportunity."

"It's not a pity." Cao Cao explained: "You all know how powerful the enemy's elite troops are. Even if we lose these 3,000 people, what does it matter?"

"Do you really think that the governor of Yangzhou only has 3,000 elite soldiers?"

"I saw that there are still naval forces on the Yangtze River, and a camp is being established on the other side of the river."

Cao Cao sighed and said, "Let's not talk about other things. Just look at these three obstacles in front of us. Even if we can overcome them, how many brothers will be left?"

"Yuan Rang, Miao Cai, you two must remember that we are a guest army. We have fulfilled our duty if we can find out the true situation for the Jingzhou army."

"The remaining forces must be used where they are needed most!"

Dong Zhuo is the meat that will be cut under the knife. Cao Cao did not say this explicitly, nor did he need to say it.

The explanation is enough here. Any more would be beyond the ability of the Xiahou brothers to understand at this stage.

...

Qichun County.

Jin Mao received a battle report from the front and was surprised: "Guan Yu fighting Cao Cao and Cao Mengde?"

In his impression, when Cao Cao appeared in Jingzhou, he should have slept with Zhang Xiu's aunt, and then suffered a Waterloo in Wancheng, losing his beloved son and Dian Wei.

But now Zhang Xiu's uncle Zhang Ji is still under Dong Zhuo's command, and is alive and well.

It's not even Zhang Xiu's turn to appear yet, so why did Cao Cao come to Jingzhou first?
The historical deviation made Jinmao a little uneasy.

Then, he thought again, isn’t he the biggest variable!

Having already reached the position of Mu of Yangzhou, it seems like no big deal even if he holds a meeting with the three most powerful families in history, Cao, Sun, and Liu.

The most powerful Sun Jian was only the governor of Changsha County, Cao Cao was only a captain of cavalry, and it was Dong Zhuo who bestowed the title on him; Liu Bei was still feeding mosquitoes in Jiaozhou.

By this calculation, he, the governor of Yangzhou appointed by the previous emperor and the general of Annan given by Dong Zhuo, is much more powerful than the other three.

Thinking of this, I finally felt better.

but!

"We must take Jingzhou as soon as possible!"

"I'm still too weak!"

Based on Cao, Sun and Liu's strong personal abilities, Jinmao decided to speed up the progress.

The troubled times have begun. If we don't take advantage of the opportunity to gain more benefits, do we really have to wait until Cao, Sun, and Liu become strong before we settle accounts?

Anyway, after Jinmao tasted the power, it no longer wants to live under someone else's roof, and it has the conditions to do so.

Look at the subordinates now, there are quite a few well-known figures. Once Xun Yu is recruited, the lineup of advisers will be complete.

If we recruit a few more well-known generals, this team can be comparable to Cao, Sun and Liu during the founding period.

As long as Jinmao doesn't do anything stupid and keeps his feet on the ground, can he be worse than Adou?
Anyway, Jinmao doesn’t believe it!
As for the more than 700 casualties, Jin Mao did not blame Guan Yu.

Although this is the greatest casualties so far, the opponent is Cao Cao, who still has two thousand cavalry!
This is indeed the entry-level version of the Iron Cavalry. Cao Cao's two thousand cavalrymen not only have full armor for the riders, but also for the horses. It's just a bit worn out.

Guan Yu was able to use 3,000 infantrymen to block the charge of 2,000 cavalrymen and annihilate more than 900 enemies. In Jin Mao's opinion, he not only failed, but also made contributions.

But others did not think so. First, Cao Cao was not famous yet and was just a small captain.

Secondly, the losses were indeed quite large. There were more than 700 sword and shield soldiers, among whom nearly 500 were the oldest elite group.

Huang Gai complained the most about this, because those were his soldiers!

However, Jinmao suppressed the matter and did not take any credit or blame for it.

"Gongda, do you know Cao Cao?"

In order to shut up the generals, Jin Mao still asked Xun You for his opinion.

"My lord, General Xu once commented on this man, saying that he is a traitor in peaceful times and a hero in troubled times."

Xun You said objectively: "I have never met Cao Cao, but I think Xu Zijiang's evaluation is very pertinent."

Jin Mao slammed the table and stood up: "Someone come!"

"Announce Military Advisor Xun's words to the entire army verbatim."

"Next time we encounter Cao Cao, we must not be careless and treat him with caution!"

Xun You looked bitter at first, thinking that this was putting him on the fire, but then he thought of something and said with admiration, "My lord is wise."

Afterwards, Zhou Yu and Xi Zhicai reacted almost at the same time and bowed, "My lord is wise!"

Jin Mao couldn't help but ask curiously, "You won't ask the reason this time?"

Xi Zhicai and Xun You remained silent, so Zhou Yu needed to show off, so he said, "All signs indicate that Cao Cao should not be underestimated."

"The troubled times have arrived. This move by the lord will not only clear Guan Yu of his crime, but also make the arrogant soldiers and generals regain their rationality instead of indulging in past victories."

"The Art of War says that an arrogant army will be defeated."

"I think that what our army needs is not one big victory after another, but a small defeat like this one."

Zhou Yu humbly asked, "Do the two military advisors have different opinions?"

Xi Zhicai and Xun You shook their heads at the same time. Even if they had any idea, they would not say it. This kid was of the same character as Guan Yu, arrogant to his superiors but kind to his subordinates.

However, what makes Zhou Yu different is that he particularly likes to compete with people who are stronger than him or equally strong.

In short, Xi Zhicai and Xun You are both people that Zhou Yu has recorded in his little notebook as people he wants to compete with.

(End of this chapter)