Zhu Ling was still partial to Tai Shici in the end, he drew troops and horses from the other two brigades, replenished the 10th Brigade with serious losses, and let him go to battle with Lu Bu's army, and the remaining two brigades guarded Hanzhong.

Lu Bu finally led these eight brigades south from Micang Road and entered the land of Bashu.

Along the way, Lu Bu once again felt that the Shu Road was difficult to travel, and that a large number of engineering troops of the Central Army had played a huge role.

In addition, with Zhang Zheng as a guide, many risks and wrongful roads were avoided, so that the Central Army smoothly crossed Daba Mountain and completed the most dangerous section of Baling Road.

After arriving at Nanjiang County, which was still under the control of the Hanzhong army, Lü Bu had already received news that the city of Hanchang was still under the control of the Hanzhong army, and the Yizhou army was still surrounding the city.

From the Nanjiang county town to the south of the Bajiang River Valley, you can go straight to Hanchang.

At this time, the communication was not smooth, and Zhang Ren had not yet received the news that the Jingzhou army had been defeated.

And the reconnaissance troops of the Central Army once again played their strengths, so when the Central Army approached Hanchang, the Yizhou Army still did not know that the danger was approaching, and was still attacking Hanchang in a hurry.

Liu Zhang is not a master of great talent, he didn't think about occupying Hanzhong, all he thought about was to take back Bajun and defeat Zhang Lu with the Jingzhou army.

Zhang Ren fully comprehended Liu Zhang's spirit, he besieged Hanchang but did not attack, and just wanted to wait until after the Jingzhou army won a great victory, and after the Hanzhong army took the initiative to withdraw, he could receive it smoothly.

Although the Yizhou Army also began to be equipped with large shields and chain armor, its enthusiasm was far inferior to that of the Jingzhou Army, and the quality of equipment was slightly inferior.

Lu Bu learned through reconnaissance that the Yizhou army did not know about his arrival, and was defenseless against the direction behind him, feeling that this was a godsend, and decided to raid overnight to catch them off guard.

It was late at night, but the tent of the Yizhou army was still brightly lit, and Zhang Ren and several of his cronies and generals were still sleeping, still discussing the recent military situation.

Today, there are several teams of scouts who have not returned after the deadline, and as a member of the general, Zhang Ren faintly smells a hint of danger.

In addition to sending a few more scouts, he was also discussing with his generals whether he should increase the intensity of the siege and end the fighting here as soon as possible.

Suddenly, there were several loud "boom" noises in the silent night sky, and at the same time, a dazzling bright light pierced the night sky from the north side of the barracks, and then there was a sky-shattering shout of killing from the north of the barracks.

Zhang Ren hurriedly walked out of the tent with his generals, but saw the north side of the barracks blazing into the sky, shouting and killing one after another.

Zhang Ren asked his subordinates, what is the situation? His subordinates only knew that there were enemy troops attacking the camp, but they didn't know where the enemy came from?

Zhang Ren scolded a few words, and then led people to the north camp, the army of 60,000 people, the camp is still very large, and in order to besiege for a long time, the camp is also dug around the trench, and the wall is also repaired.

But when Zhang Ren arrived at the north side of the camp, the scene in front of him was a mess and chaotic.

A large part of the wall was destroyed, a section hundreds of feet long was gone, and the trench was paved with something like a ladder, through which many enemy troops were passing and slaughtering into the camp.

Although they all look the same color in the firelight, the styles are very different, and the enemy soldiers are very eye-catching with white ribbons tied around their right arms and necks.

At this time, someone came to report that just after those few loud noises, a large section of the walled wall was destroyed and shattered, and the trenches were also padded by the enemy, and listening to the accent, these enemies should be the central army in the north.

The Yizhou army, which was caught off guard, was put down a lot by the crossbows of the central army, and the rest of the people didn't have time to put on armor and couldn't find a big shield, so they could only do something to fight with the central army.

There are more and more central troops, and the Yizhou army is crowded with each other, and it lacks equipment, so it is difficult to form a defensive formation, this kind of melee is very suitable for the central army to give full play to its individual ability, not to mention that there is a special combat brigade among the chaotic army.

Seeing this situation, Zhang Ren was also decisive, he saw that the camp in the north was already incorrigible.

He ordered the Yizhou army that came one after another to start a formation in the middle of the camp, and the more than 10,000 people in the northern camp had been abandoned by him, and he wanted to gather the remaining troops and break through together.

However, the loud "boom" sound also sounded on the east and west sides of the camp at the same time, and a large number of central troops also rushed into the camps on both sides.

Zhang Ren can only break through while gathering troops, and the camp is not suitable for the Yizhou army to fight, so let's retreat to the open area outside the camp first!

Until now, he didn't know how many central troops had come to sneak attack him, but he felt that there were shadows of white ribbons everywhere in all directions.

Zhang Ren wanted to fight outside the camp, but the tactic that Lu Bu deployed to the Central Army was to fight chaotically, taking advantage of the chaos, and the more chaotic the better.

He believed in the individual combat strength of the Central Army, and the Central Army had received simple street combat training, and it was flexible in formation, commanded freely, and could even fight in squads.

So under this kind of chaotic battle, it must not be the Central Army that suffers, Lu Bu had already expected that Zhang Ren would think about breaking through and concentrating troops, so he told the special operations brigade.

Now is the time for the special operations brigade to give full play to their strengths, and those who specialize in sniping officers in the chaos of the army and the heralds, and the marksmen are showing their skills.

Moreover, the obstacles in the camp are like street fighting training grounds, and the Central Army, which is based on squads, is like a fish in water and is very adaptable.

Repeater crossbows and horizontal knives have played a huge role in such terrain conditions, and the tacit cooperation has derived many tactical cooperation.

The hoplites of the Yizhou Army were only 5,000 people, but there were so many people and many people who died in the melee before they put on heavy armor and picked up big shields.

The rest are all fighting on their own, and they can't form a battle formation at all.

Without the protection of the hoplites, the rest of the Yizhou army was a lamb to the slaughter in the face of the offensive of the Central Army.

Zhang Ren was struggling to concentrate his troops and commanding his subordinates to break through, but he was shot in the right chest by a cold arrow, and he was injured and unconscious.

The Yizhou Army, which had lost its command, could only be more chaotic and fight on its own.

When the sky was bright, the Hanzhong army in the city had also made contact with the central army, and Yang Ren also led 10,000 people out of the city to join the battle group.

The addition of the new force completely disintegrated the last fighting spirit of the Yizhou army, and Zhang Ren's deputy finally broke out of the encirclement with some subordinates at dawn and fled back to Langzhong.

When the sun was high, this melee that had been fierce all night finally ended, and the surviving Yizhou army either fled or surrendered, after all, it was a melee, and the encirclement of the central army was not so tight.

After cleaning up the battlefield in the end, according to some statistics, the Yizhou army lost nearly 20,000 casualties, wounded 20,000, captured more than 10,000 people, and finally managed to escape 6 or 7,000 people.

The casualties of the Central Army were not large, with eight brigades together suffering more than 4,000 casualties.

Such a disparity in casualty ratio fully demonstrates the Central Army's superior individual combat strength, flexible command, and relatively high quality of officers and men, especially the on-the-spot command ability of middle- and lower-level officers.

(End of chapter)