Gao Fan led the cavalry with long legs in a retreat all the way, five thousand troops were slaughtered by Huang Zhong along the way, and gathered along the way, and now only a little over three thousand remained, and more than half of these soldiers were following Gao Fan in a scattered manner, lacking substantial combat power.
Fortunately, although Huang Zhong was fierce, under Gao Fan’s strategy of cutting losses, he constantly needed to gather the captives, allowing Gao Fan to successfully pull away from Huang Zhong. Of course, Gao Fan was completely unaware that Huang Zhong wasn’t pursuing too closely because he knew Fa Zheng was waiting in ambush ahead.
"Retreat, retreat, retreat, Beixin City is right in front, we’ll be safe once we get there," Gao Fan shouted.
The soldiers, whose morale had plumted due to the overnight escape, were sowhat revitalized upon hearing this, but the next mont they saw Liu Bei’s Army charge in from all around, causing their souls to leave their bodies in fright.
Although Gao Fan was seen as trash, he valued his life imnsely. Seeing Liu Bei’s Army erging from the front and both sides, he imdiately chose to lead all the cavalry to break through first, at least to preserve his own life.
"General Zhang, it’s up to you now, Xu You should respond soon," Fa Zheng said with a slight frown. Truth be told, he had gone over everything ticulously and found no issues.
Zhang Yan nodded, then shouted loudly, leading a group of Black Mountain Army channel commanders charging towards Gao Fan, knowing the strategy of capturing the leader first to defeat the enemy.
[Next, let’s see how Xu You reacts, what will it be?] Fa Zheng stood on a high slope, gazing far into the distance at the North Gate of Beixin City, at which point the city gate opened, making Fa Zheng visibly frown.
[Strange, everything seems to align with my estimates, yet I feel I’ve overlooked sothing.] Fa Zheng silently turned to watch the distant battle.
It must be said that the Yuan Army indeed had decent quality, especially after Gao Fan realized he could only wait for rescue to break through, he gradually displayed the qualities a general should have.
This scene was also seen by Fa Zheng, elevating his evaluation of Gao Fan slightly. At least he seed to have so ability as a commander, rather than being re trash. Yet, it must be said that when Yuan Shao was alive, he did choose capable individuals, so it’s not possible to rise to such a position without so skills.
"It seems Xu You is even more cautious than expected, only sending three thousand as reinforcents, aning defending Beixin City is more important than these n," Fa Zheng, having roughly determined the number of reinforcents, ordered the drumrs to signal an all-out attack, as this bait no longer held any significance.
"Puh!" Gao Fan, who had been barely holding on under Zhang Yan’s spear, looked in disbelief at the long spear piercing his left chest, having never expected Zhang Yan to have been holding back earlier.
The enemy general is dead, why don’t you surrender!" Zhang Yan shouted, and about a mile away, Jiang Qi, upon hearing the shout, suddenly halted the charging army and grimly gazed into the distance before directly turning to retreat.
"So calm, I thought they would charge at us," Fa Zheng coolly observed the orderly retreat of Yuan’s Army, his expression becoming serious, surprised to find such a well-trained force inside Beixin City.
Soon Jiang Qi retreated, and Fa Zheng only watched coldly without pursuing, simply ordering the battlefield to be cleared. Having successfully crushed a five thousand strong Yuan Army force, he was already quite satisfied.
[With this lesson, Xu You will no longer attempt to provoke us. As long as the threat to Beixin City is maintained, the opposition can be pinned down in Southern Youzhou with minimal casualties.]
Fa Zheng gazed at Beixin City, pondering silently that his task was nearing completion here, yet, for so reason, he felt this victory had co too easily. Although it was indeed unexpected to appear at Yishui, it seed unrealistically smooth.
"Military Advisor Fa, a great victory, our army has slain the enemy general Gao Fan, capturing over four thousand," Zhang Yan and Huang Zhong, upon their forces consolidating, were overjoyed realizing their success.
"Is that so?" Fa Zheng frowned slightly, not showing much joy.
"Yes, our formation killed less than three hundred, but after the enemy general Gao Fan discovered our army at the Yishui Riverbank, he imdiately turned to retreat, pursued along the way, and was intercepted by the advisor, resulting in our total victory," Huang Zhong saluted with one fist clasped in another hand.
Admittedly, there were tis when Fa Zheng seed unreliable, but his performance on the battlefield was consistently excellent. Even the prudent Huang Zhong found it hard to fault him, and over ti, everyone acknowledged Fa Zheng’s foresight in anticipating the enemy’s moves.
"Xiao Zhi, what’s bothering you despite the victory?" Zhang Yan patted Fa Zheng on the shoulder and said. For soone as young yet highly capable as Fa Zheng, Zhang Yan had grown accustod to him, knowing that Liu Xuande’s rule relied on this group of youngsters.
"Did you not sleep last night, and now you’re drowsy? Regardless, we captured over four thousand of them, further decreasing Beixin City’s defenses," assessed Huang Zhong after scrutinizing Fa Zheng, initially thinking it might just be fatigue.
"Ah, now that you ntion it, I indeed feel sleepy, but considering we captured over four thousand, it’s quite sothing," Fa Zheng remarked, stretching lazily, acknowledging the rit in the new perspective provided by Huang Zhong.’
"General Huang, interrogating the Yuan soldiers is for you, I won’t lead the army to give Xu You face, though I really didn’t expect there to be such a well-trained army in Xinbei, and Xu You to be so cautious." Fa Zheng said, half-squinting at Xinbei, with a serious expression.
"This frontline won’t be easy to breach," Fa Zheng suddenly dropped his somber tone, smiling, "I’ll head back to rest first, station a cohort near Yishui, don’t give them any hope by water, if they’re bold, let them co by land."
"Xu’er, take my trusted aide to escort Military Advisor Fa back to camp," Huang Zhong turned to his son and called out.
"Aye!" Huang Xu saluted, then took Huang Zhong’s escort to protect Fa Zheng, which was inevitable given how Fa Zheng achieved fa in his youth and displayed exceptional ability, despite being the sa age as Huang Xu, though Huang Xu viewed him as a senior for so reason.
[I feel like I’ve overlooked sothing, from the earlier situations, it’s logical for Xu You to prioritize Xinbei over the people of Northern Youzhou, within reasonable asures of capability to aid... ]
[Reflecting upon it, this mindset aligns perfectly with Xu You’s character, but what is his psychological basis for this?] Fa Zheng rode his horse, releasing the reins, pressing his temple with his index finger, a touch of confusion rippling across his expression.
At that mont, a sentence surfaced in Fa Zheng’s mind, [Xiaozhi, your spiritual talent is to comprehend the human heart, yet you still don’t understand it!]
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