As Qiao Ren expected, at the end of May of the sixteenth year of Jian'an of the Han Dynasty, the general Zhang Liao and Li Dian led an army of 5,000 to stay in Hefei, and Xue Yi led an army of 4,000 to guard Liyang, and he personally raised an army of 20,000 to the south to prepare to recapture Shucheng.

In the hall of the county government in Shucheng, the lights were flickering, and Qiao Ren's slender back was stretched in the firelight. Qiao Ren stood with his hands folded, staring at the map hanging on the wall for a long time without speaking. And all the generals in the hall looked at him with anxious eyes.

"Zhang Wenyuan led the army here, what do the generals think should be?" The general of the Wu army didn't wait too long, Qiao Ren finally turned around and asked with a smile after thinking for half an hour.

Sun Shao, who is the son of Wu Hou Yizi, is now the second general in the hall after Qiao Ren, and first said: "Zhang Liao's troops are higher than our army, and the last general thinks that our army should defend Shucheng to the death." ”

"No!" Xu Sheng hurriedly said: "The two generals, Dai Gang and Zhu Huan, are stationed in Lu'an and Yangquan, if our army can't avoid the battle, they will definitely be besieged by the Cao army." If Yangquan and Lu'an are lost, my northern gateway will be wide open, and Shucheng will not be able to defend it. ”

"That's right! Although Zhang Liao has an army of 20,000, as long as our army can defeat him or confront him, as long as the time is long, he will definitely retreat and return. Huang Ce, who was reticent, also disagreed with Sun Shao's opinion.

And the attentive Sun Lang found that Qiao Ren was smiling, but he didn't say anything, so he wondered if Qiao Ren had a plan, so he asked: "Look at the majority of the governors, do you already have a plan?" ”

"Haha!" Qiao Ren laughed when he heard this, "Good morning is right, this governor has already decided to lead the army to meet Zhang Liao." The generals should know the truth that the old guard must be lost, Zhang Liao is not without worries, please see that this Hefei is where his life, I have secretly ordered Gan Ning to lead the army across Chaohu Lake to make a gesture of attacking Hefei, as long as Hefei is threatened, Zhang Liao will retreat. ”

"The Governor is clever!"

"Okay, don't shoot the sycophants, and the generals will obey their orders. Ordered Sima Sun Lang to stay in Shucheng, and the rest of the generals followed me to meet the enemy. ”

"Report!" A personal guard ran in in a hurry, interrupting Qiao Ren and the others who were about to swear north.

Seeing this, Qiao Ren knew that something big must have happened, and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"Back to the Governor of Dadu, Cao Jun Zhang Liao bypassed Lu'an and Yangquan, leaving only 5,000 people to guard, and personally mentioned the army towards Shucheng."

Hearing this, Qiao Ren hurriedly looked at the map, in fact, Hefei didn't have to go through Lu'an to go south, but Lu'an was just between the two cities, and he could send troops to harass the back road at any time, but he didn't expect Zhang Liao to leave only the same number of troops as the defenders to guard, and he came straight to Shucheng with a large army.

'What is Zhang Liao's plan to do?'

"When did this information come" Qiao Ren hurriedly asked, now estimating the specific location of Zhang Liaojun is the key.

"The scouts of our army were basically uprooted by Cao Jun, and this news was sent back by General Yangquan Zhu, and it has been about two days."

'Two days' Qiao Ren pondered, two days is enough time for Zhang Liao's army to travel five hundred miles, presumably tomorrow will be able to reach the city of Shucheng.

"Generals!" Qiao Ren turned around abruptly and said loudly: "I expect Zhang Liao's Cao army to arrive soon, but this governor still wants to fight him in a decisive battle under the city." ”

"The Grand Duke!" Zhang Liao's Wei army is almost under the city, what kind of field battle is this! Even Huang Ce, who has always supported Qiao Ren, felt that it was not feasible, "Metropolitan Governor, our army is small and..."

In fact, among the Wu army, many generals are not confident in their own field capabilities, not to mention that Cao Jun is compared to Liu Beijun, and Wu Jun's field ability is far behind. But this is also the reason why Qiao Ren insisted on fighting Zhang Liaoye, and if he lacked self-confidence, he would use a real victory to build confidence. The soldiers want to raise their sharpness and kill their arrogance, how can the Wu army without sharpness be able to expand the territory for Sun Ce.

"Generals, the Governor has his own plans. Tomorrow, when Zhang Liao's Cao army approaches, our army will meet the enemy on the high ground three miles outside the city. ”

The next day, when the east was still unclear, Qiao Ren led the army out of the city and lined up on the high ground. Qiao Ren under the banner of the Chinese army is still dressed in silver-white armor, covered with a white robe, wearing a golden crown, and looks like a young version of Zhou Yu. If it weren't for the huge words of Jiangbei Governor Qiao on the handsome banner, the Wu soldiers would have thought that the Governor of Zhou had returned to take charge of the army.

Qiao Ren looked at the thousand heavily armored spearmen, and finally felt a little confident in his heart. This infantry that cost a lot of money to build is exactly where Qiao Ren's confidence lies in daring to deal with Cao Jun's infantry cavalry.

At this moment, the scout reported that Zhang Liao's Cao army had traveled ten miles away, and the smoke and dust raised by the vanguard cavalry, a total of 1,000 people, could be faintly seen on the high ground Qiao Ren.

"Formation!"

Knock knock, knock knock. The drumbeat of the war drums seemed to be in tune with the rhythm of the heartbeat, beating the soul of the Wu soldiers. Fighting with Cao's army in the field, this made these Wu soldiers a little nervous, and in the recent battle of Nanjun, the powerful attack power and resilience of Cao Cao's northern army gave them a lot of deterrence.

Under the command of drums and battle flags, the Wu army lined up in a large V-shaped formation, with a thousand heavily armored spearmen at the front end and Wu army's foot soldiers on the flanks. Inside the V is a large number of crossbowmen, and Qiao Ren's personal guard cavalry is left at the V opening to protect Qiao Ren.

"Report! General, the Wu army is arrayed ten miles away! "A Cao army scout in black armor reported back to the main general Zhang Liao.

"Haha!" A hearty laugh came, and a black-armored general who was not tall, but very sturdy, laughed and said, "Wen Yuan, this Qiao Ren actually wants to fight with our army in the field, he has a broken head!" ”

The person called Wen Yuan is Zhang Liao, he has a helmet and armor all over his body, his face is like purple jade, three long beards, his face is delicate and elegant, but his handsome face reveals a trace of solemnity, "Wen Qian can't be careless, then Qiao Ziyan must have something to rely on since he dares to go out of the city to fight." ”

Zhang Liao stared at the scout with a pair of big eyes and asked, "You know, how is the enemy's formation?" ”

"General Hui, the Wu Army's formation villain has never been seen, but from a distance, there seems to be a thousand spear formations at the front." The military quality of the scouts was not high, and Zhang Liao couldn't ask why.

"Humph! Just a spear formation wants to stop me, whimsical. Someone came with me to break the Wu Army's Nalaoshzi formation. "Le Jin looks down on Qiao Ren very much, in fact, it is not only Qiao Ren but also Wu Jun that Le Jin looks down on.

Zhang Liao was anxious when he saw Le Jin so aggressive, and hurriedly said: "Wen Qian, don't be impulsive, but slowly figure it out." ”

Lejin didn't appreciate Zhang Liao's advice. "Hmph, Zhang Wenyuan, don't you want someone to make such a great contribution! You don't want this credit, I want it. After saying that, he slapped his horse and left, and his five thousand soldiers and one thousand cavalry also followed.

"Humph! If it weren't for the prime minister's life, a certain family would be lazy to care about you! If you want to go to death, a certain family will not stop you, give an order, and the army will rest in place. Zhang Liao said in a sullen voice.

Zhang Liao, Zhang Jaw, Xu Huang, Yu Ban and Le Jin, although the five are listed as the five good generals, in fact, not only does the five have no friendship at all, but also have a very poor relationship and flicker contradictions. There are clouds in later generations: two Zhang, one Xu and three tigers. One mountain is still difficult to tolerate two tigers, let alone three tigers, the relationship between these three people is even worse, but the relationship between Yu Ban and Le Jin, the two veteran generals of the Cao family, is still relaxed, at least they can exchange courtesies.

This is also the reason why Qiao Ren dared to go out of the city to fight. In the battle of Hefei in later generations, Zhang Liao, Le Jin, Li Dian and others led a mere 7,000 people to meet the 100,000 army of Sun Quan of Eastern Wu. And now the number of the Eastern Wu army is not more than 10,000 people, not as many as the Cao army, in such a situation, it is impossible for Lejin and Zhang Liao to be like the battle of Hefei, there is a rift and there is a chance, Qiao Ren dares to bet on this.