It is said that Zhang Fei followed Zhao Chen's strategy, took the things that ignited the fire, led 5,000 men and horses to turn around halfway, and quietly headed towards Hongze Lake.

Yuan Shu wanted to sneak attack Huaiyin, and Xutai was the only way to go.

Zhao Chen knows this place very well, it is the first place where Zhao Chen lived after crossing, the customs and geographical orientation are all in Zhao Chen's heart.

Xutai County is close to Hongze Lake, with low walls and weak guards. Twenty miles northeast of the city, there is a gourd mouth surrounded by water on three sides, which is a natural pocket.

Previously, Yuan Shu and Liu Bei fought fiercely in this place, and the city walls were also damaged, and after Yuan Shu withdrew, Liu Bei's army was not officially settled in, and it had not had time to repair.

Most of the houses of the people in the city have been damaged, and most of the people have fled.

According to Zhao Chen's instructions, Zhang Fei led all the remaining people out of the city, and arranged for 500 soldiers to escort them to Huaiyin City overnight.

Then he instructed the soldiers to sprinkle the fire-burning materials such as sulfur they had brought with them on the houses of the people in the city, and set up a mechanism inside.

Then the army was divided into four teams, and the generals each led 500 people, distributed in the south, west, and north gates, with enough rockets, and Zhang Fei led 3,000 cavalry at the east gate, waiting for Yuan Shu's army to come.

According to Zhao Chen's prediction, Yuan Shu's army must have arrived at Xutai on the same night. If there is no resistance in the city, he will enter the city to rest and rectify. At that time, when Yuan Shu's army made a fire to make food, the four brothers from the southeast, northwest, and northwest fired rockets into the city, ignited the houses in the city, and waved their flags and shouted. Yuan Shu's army must be chaotic and take the road, the three brothers of the south and northwest guarded their respective gates, and rockets shot at the door, forcing Yuan Shu's army to the east gate.

Outside the east gate, Zhang Fei personally led the iron cavalry to ambush and drove the Yuan Shu army that broke through to the southeast of Xutai County.

The southeast direction of Xutai is connected to Hongze Lake, which is exactly the shape of a gourd bag, Zhang Fei's three thousand iron horsemen only need to guard the mouth of the gourd, and Yuan Shu's army will be unable to escape.

The terrain at the mouth of the gourd is flat, just suitable for cavalry charge, and the infantry has no way to escape.

Zhao Chen used Zhuge Liang's plan to burn Xinye in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

The situation between the two is very similar, Zhuge Liang faced the angry Cao army, Cao Ren was bent on taking Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang's heads, and after entering Xinye, he was attacked by fire, and he was flooded after leaving the city. At this time, the army of Yuan Shu, who came in a hurry, was also in a hurry, hoping to take Huaiyin as soon as possible before Liu Bei's army could react.

Zhao Chen took advantage of this before he thought of the plan to burn the platform.

Everything was ready, and Zhang Fei quietly waited for Yuan Shu's army to arrive.

As the sun sets, the sentinels in front of them come galloping all the way.

"General Zhang, I found Yuan Shu's army in front, and the leading general Qiao Rui, about 30,000 horses, was coming towards Xuantai. At this time, it was less than thirty miles away from Xutai City. ”

Zhang Fei laughed: "Sure enough, he was said by the military advisor, he really came!" It's a pity, it's not Yuan Shu himself who leads the army, otherwise he can take down Yuan Shu and make him kneel in front of his eldest brother and kowtow to admit his mistake. ”

"The order, the preparation of all teams, cheer me up, dare to delay the battle situation, military law will serve!"

Everyone responded in unison: "Yes!" ”

The order followed the herald, and after a few moments, the army fell into calm again.

The whole Xutai County is like no one, only the ruins and many broken houses stand quietly in the city.

It is said that the army of Qiaorui hurried all the way, and when they arrived at Xutai, they were already sleepy and tired.

Seeing that Xutai County was empty, he sent people into the city to search carefully, and it was indeed an empty city.

Qiao Rui was happy, Liu Beijun really devoted all his resources to attack Guangling County, and there was really nothing behind him. Tomorrow's sneak attack on Huaiyin may be easy.

"This Zhao Chen is not as divine as Ji Ling said, if he has the ability, he will set up an ambush here and defeat my Qiaorui!"

He immediately ordered to go into the city to rest and make a fire to cook.

Qiao Rui knew very well in his heart that it was far more convenient to repair in the city than outside the city, so he didn't have to camp or worry about wind and rain. There are many houses in the empty city, and the soldiers can live more comfortably.

It's just that Qiao Rui didn't know, what he could think of, Zhao Chen had already expected.

The 30,000-strong army of Qiaorui slowly entered the city, and after a few moments, curling smoke rose from the chimneys of some houses.

Zhang Fei, who was outside the city, looked at the smoke and was excited.

"The military advisor is really a god and a man, can this be expected? The old man was really obedient and came in full accordance with the instructions of the military advisor. ”

"Inform the brothers, listen to my orders, and release the rocket!"

For a time, thousands of rockets fell from the sky around Xutai City and landed on the houses and other fire-causing objects covered with sulfur, instantly igniting a raging fire and illuminating the entire night.

When Qiao Rui heard this, he was shocked.

"Isn't there no one? Where did the rocket come from? ”

For a time, there was chaos in Xutai City, and there were fires everywhere.

Qiaorui's instructions did not work at all, and the soldiers squeezed each other into the fire to flee for their lives.

At the moment when the rockets were fired in, many soldiers were resting and eating in their houses, but they were surrounded by fire before they could react.

Zhang Fei also ordered the soldiers to wave their flags and shout outside the four gates, and sealed the city gates with rockets, and the Qiaorui army in the city was like a turtle in an urn, with nowhere to escape.

In just a few moments, the fire, smoke, and trampling on each other had killed and injured more than half of the Qiaorui army.

The guard hurriedly persuaded: "General, quickly retreat, if you don't leave, you will be engulfed in flames." ”

Qiao Rui said dejectedly: "Where to retreat? Now that the four gates are guarded by Liu Bei's people, I don't know how many of them there are, where do we retreat? ”

The guard said: "East Gate, I think the guards at the East Gate are the weakest, if you concentrate your forces, you may be able to break through to the east." ”

Qiao Rui's spirit was shocked, and he hurriedly organized the only force to break through the east gate according to the meaning of the guards.

Seeing this, Zhang Fei smiled and waved his hand, signaling the brother guarding the east gate to get out of the way.

Zhao Chen told him that the siege must be que, and there must be a gap when he is sure of winning, otherwise he will do the battle of trapped beasts, if the enemy has reached a desperate situation, he must stop in moderation, otherwise he will struggle to the death.

Once you rise up to resist, it is inevitable that there will be casualties, which is not what Zhao Chen hopes, human resources are very valuable.

Zhang Fei strictly obeyed Zhao Chen's instructions and left the east gate as a pressure relief port, otherwise the Qiaorui army saw that there was no hope of breaking through, and tried their best to attack a gate, and Liu Beijun guarding the gate would inevitably suffer casualties.

The loosening of the east gate gave Qiao Rui hope and commanded the army towards the east gate.

As soon as the army arrived, there was hardly any siege at the east gate.

Qiao Rui led the army all the way to the east, not daring to look back, until he ran to the edge of Hongze Lake before stopping.

By this time the people were already sleepy, they had lost their armor, and their clothes were in tatters.

When the soldiers saw the lake, they went to the lake to drink, and splashed their bodies with the lake water to reduce the heat caused by the fire.

Before he could rest for a while, Zhang Fei was not far away and led three thousand iron horsemen to chase after him.

Qiao Rui saw the neat and uniform Zhang Fei army, and then looked at the defeated army around him, and instantly closed his eyes and deflated.

He understood that the army at this time was no match for Zhang Fei in terms of numbers or spirit.

Surrounded by water on three sides, there is no way back but to surrender.

"It turns out that the East Gate is also a trap!"

But he didn't give up, such a complicated plan was definitely not something that Zhang Fei, a big man, could come up with, it must be Zhao Chen.

Who is this Zhao Chen, who is sacred, to come up with such a scheme.