Chapter 262: We Will Never Meet Again in the Underworld

By the time Liu Bei led his army to Dian County, the Xiandeng Camp and the Hengqiang Camp had already surrounded the two camps in the east and north of the city.

Chaiying also allocated half of its men, and under the pressure of the Huben Cavalry, they dug trenches to besiege Xu You and Gao Gan in the city, preventing them from escaping easily.

Seeing the situation was critical, Gao Gan ordered the cavalry in the city to charge twice, but they were both repelled by the Qingzhou cavalry.

The Huben Cavalry wanted to pursue, but they were concerned about the powerful crossbows on the city walls and the small city gate. If there were too many people, they would be easily blocked, and if there were too few people, they would be shot to death by the powerful crossbows.

They could only watch the enemy retreat back into the city, otherwise they would have to rush into the city in one breath and capture Xu You and Gao Gan and tie them up before the envoy arrived.

Liu Bei hurried over and looked at the “Gao” flag flying on the city wall, then turned his gaze to the two Yuan army camps that were being attacked, and could not help frowning.

I saw that the Xiandeng Camp and the Hengqiang Camp each captured a camp, surrounded three gates and used battering rams to hammer the camp.

“Dong dong dong…”

“Kill!”

The battlefield was filled with rumbling drums and arrows flying through the air, each rain of arrows was accompanied by screams.

It looked like a heavy hammer hitting the enemy’s camp wall, but Liu Bei clearly felt that the force of the attack had been reduced.

He immediately sent a military officer to summon Han Mu and Liu Ping. When the two arrived, Liu Bei said sternly, “I have already told you to attack them immediately. Why do you still want to surround them with a gap? Won’t it make Yuan’s army think there is still a way out?”

“This battle is about attacking the enemy’s heart, forcing them to become like a spent bow, with the bowstring broken. We should pursue them relentlessly and force their soldiers to surrender.”

“Although military tactics are good, sometimes they should be adapted to local conditions so as not to be in vain.”

Han Mu and Liu Ping felt ashamed after hearing this. After receiving the order again, they immediately rushed back to block the other direction and attacked Yuan’s camp from all sides. As the envoy had expected, the enemy’s resistance in the east of the city became shaky in an instant.

The sergeants and squad leaders of Yuan’s army did not dare to step forward to supervise the battle, for fear of being stabbed to death by the spears of the soldiers in the row behind them.

Liu Bei saw that his strategy was effective in the east of the city and it was only a matter of time before the defenders there were breached, so he turned his attention to the more solid camp wall in the north of the city.

Under the protection of Dian Wei and Xu Chu holding large shields, Liu Bei personally climbed up to a high place and looked down at the Yuan army camp. He saw that the Yuan army in the north of the city was using wooden fences and thickened shields to hold off the battering rams.

His eyes fell thoughtfully on the “Jiang” flag in the center of the camp. Liu Bei was slightly surprised and said, “I didn’t expect that Jiang Yiqu’s leadership of the army is quite effective for the soldiers. He is much better than the high-ranking officials in the city of Du County. I wonder how he compares to Yan Liang and Wen Chou?”

“In Pingyuan’s county prison, Yan Liang has been guarding his loyalty and has been waiting for his old friend for a long time. I wonder if Jiang Qi will be so lucky as to be captured alive by our army and avoid death by the swords.”

Speaking of Yan Liang, he did have some integrity. Liu Bei sent some people to persuade him to surrender, but Yan Liang, remembering the favor of the Yuan family who promoted him, would rather die than surrender.

After knowing this, Liu Bei was too lazy to persuade him anymore and simply followed his wish and let Yan Liang spend the rest of his life in prison.

Don’t think that food and lodging are provided in prison. Prisoners still have to farm and work. Otherwise, where would Qingzhou get the millet and cloth to distribute to their subordinates as salaries?

If he only paid five-zhu coins to the clerks every month, Xun Yu would probably be worried to death.

Liu Bei came to his senses and looked at the flags swaying in the wind. After observing where the wind came from, he ordered the Shengshe Camp to dip the arrowheads in flaming oil, light them on fire, and shoot them upwards to wear down the enemy’s morale.

Yuan Jun had never seen flaming arrows flying all over the sky, and the Qingzhou army was constantly throwing kerosene jars, so they panicked.

The formation that had previously held out against the battering ram quickly collapsed.

Soon a large gap was created, and the Xiandeng camp rushed in from the gap, slashing left and right with their long swords, which were more resilient than Yuan’s weapons thanks to Qingzhou’s unique steel-forging method. The soldiers holding spears were even more ruthless, stabbing into the unarmored area, stirring it inside and then pulling it out, in order to drain blood and tear the wound, causing the enemy to bleed to death.

If you are lucky and the piercer is in the neck, the person will die soon. If you are unlucky and the piercer is in other places, the person may not die for a long time.

They could only lie on the ground and howl miserably, while the swordsmen and shieldmen harvested their heads.

There were fires everywhere, and Qingzhou troops were pouring in everywhere. Jiang Qi’s soldiers could no longer resist and began to flee in the camp, abandoning their weapons and armor.

Some even shouted in fear: “Our army is defeated, our army is defeated.”

“Kill the corporal and surrender quickly. Kill the corporal and surrender quickly.”

He was already speaking incoherently.

When the sergeants and squad leaders in Yuan’s army heard such shouting, they didn’t dare to turn back and lead their soldiers to block the hole, for fear that someone would take advantage of it to gain merit.

They ran faster and hurriedly tore off the items with the military officer’s mark on them.

At this moment, no one was resisting, only people were running, shouting and scurrying around in the chaos.

Jiang Qi stood on the high platform and looked at the scene below with a miserable smile, the sword in his hand falling weakly.

The front army was in chaos, the central army was also in chaos, they were surrounded on all sides, fires broke out everywhere, and they had nowhere to go.

Jiang Qi raised his head and sneered at the city wall of Chaoyue County, and said to himself in sorrow: “Xu You, Gao Gan, if it weren’t for you dogs and pigs as generals, I wouldn’t have been defeated, and Lord Yuan’s foundation would have been destroyed by you rats…”

“My body is in the underworld, and my flesh and bones have turned to mud. I will die here today, and I don’t want to see you again in the nine springs!”

After saying this, he took off his helmet, and amid the exclamations of his personal soldiers, he jumped down from a platform several feet high, hitting his forehead on the ground and died, just to repay Lord Yuan for promoting him.

At this moment, the soldiers of the Xiandeng Camp broke through the camp walls on all sides and rushed into Yuan’s camp. Jiang Qi’s personal soldiers, who were still resisting sporadically, finally laid down their weapons and surrendered, kowtowed to the ground and begged to collect Jiang Qi’s remains.

……

Xu You, who was standing on the top of the city wall of Du County and looking out, saw from afar that the flagpole of Jiang Qi’s central army’s banner had fallen down at some point.

A trace of panic flashed across his eyes, and he couldn’t help swallowing. It’s over, it’s over.

Such a strong camp was breached by Liu Xuande in just two hours, and Jiang Yiqu also died in the battle. This was another tragic defeat in Jizhou after Qu Yi, and it also cost the loss of a great general.

If Benchu ​​received this news halfway, he would probably want to kill his entire family.

Jiang Qi was also from a Hebei noble family, and was highly regarded by Benchu, otherwise why would Feng Ji be beheaded and displayed to the public? Jiang Yiqu was still able to lead his troops to garrison here, because this man was loyal and had no intention of surrendering to the enemy.

Thinking of this, Xu You broke out in cold sweat. If the news of the defeat got out, his family members left in Handan would probably have no chance of survival.

Turning around, he looked at Gao Gan, who was standing on the watchtower of the city wall and looking into the distance. He saw that his body was frozen and he did not move for a long time.

Xu You guessed that Gao Yuancai also saw the scene of Jiang Qi’s banner falling.

He couldn’t help but said sadly: “Yuancai, now we two are dependent on each other. If we can hold on to this city and make merit to atone for our sins, we still have a chance to escape execution.”

(End of this chapter)