The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 425 Shen Yi Leaves the City, Zhang Liao Launches a Surprise Attack

Shen Yi spent five whole days making preparations, then rested for a day before finally leading 60,000 troops and countless supplies away from Yuhan to Nanchang on the evening of the sixth day.

At the same time as the expedition began, scouts were sent ahead to spread rumors that the Han army was approaching Nanchang and preparing to attack the city.

Although Yu Han was only about 300 li from Nanchang, the army was slowed down by Zhang Liao's threat. At a speed of 20 to 30 li per day, it would take at least half a month to reach Nanchang. Even if Yu Fan was slow to react, he would have received the news by then.

Since Yu Fan is destined to receive news of the Han army's attack on Nanchang and prepare in advance, it would be better to send someone to inform him, thereby putting pressure on Yu Fan and exhausting the city's garrison.

Imagine if Yu Fan received news of the Han army's attack, wouldn't the whole city be on high alert and defended to the death? Wouldn't the garrison be watching with wide eyes, fearing that the Han army would suddenly attack if they were not careful?

In this situation, people's nerves will inevitably be tense and their minds will definitely be highly focused. But don't forget that this kind of focus cannot last long. The defenders waited and waited on the city wall for half a month before the Han army arrived. At this time, would the defenders still have the energy and morale they had on the first day of defending the city?

Now, back to the point…

Shen Yi knew that as soon as he left the city, he would inevitably be attacked by Zhang Liao. Therefore, after leaving Yu Han, he immediately became tense and ordered the army to adjust its formation, so that the carts pushing bamboo poles would move around the perimeter of the army and protect the grain and fodder in the middle of the army. This would ensure that if the Wei army launched a surprise attack, they could quickly establish a defensive position to strike back.

In order to detect the movements of the Wei army in time, Shen Yi not only sent out scouts to investigate closely, but also made thousands of listening tubes according to Guan Xing's instructions. These were bamboo poles with holes drilled in them and a bend in the end. Soldiers would carry them and stick the bamboo poles into the ground after a few steps, then put the bend in their ears to listen for the sound of the Wei army's hooves. As soon as they heard any movement, they would immediately form a battle formation.

As it turned out, Shen Yi's caution was correct. In recent days, Wei scouts had been staking out outside Yuhan City. After discovering that the Han army had left the city, they quickly reported to Zhang Liao. Upon receiving the news, Zhang Liao immediately mustered his troops to kill the Han army.

It is worth mentioning that Shen Yi traveled under Guan Xing's banner, so Zhang Liao did not know that Guan Xing had left and thought that Guan Xing himself was leading the Han army on the expedition.

Although he planned to attack Yu Han and cut off Guan Xing's retreat after the main force of the Han army led by Guan Xing left, that was only if Guan Xing arrived at the city of Nanchang and was unable to return to help even if he received news of Yu Han's urgent plea.

Now that Guan Xing has just left the city, isn't it crazy for him to rush to attack Yu Han? Even if he's in a hurry, a few more days won't make a difference. What if Guan Xing suddenly comes back during the siege?

Attacking Yu Khan is possible, but only when Guan Xing is far enough away from Yu Khan that he cannot return to his aid, not now.

Therefore, Zhang Liao's target this time was the main force of the Han army led by Guan Xing, not Yu Han City. He did not know how long Yu Fan could hold out, so he had to weaken the strength of the Han army as much as possible, hit the morale of the Han army, and prevent the Han army from easily reaching the city of Nanchang.

However, launching a surprise attack on the Han army was not easy. To prevent the Han army from raiding the camp, Zhang Liao set up camp forty miles away. By the time the Han scouts arrived, it was already past midnight. By the time he returned to camp to report and led the main force to attack, it was already dawn.

In other words, as long as the distance between them and the Han army is far enough, even if the Han army knows Zhang Liao's exact location, they cannot launch a night raid on the camp. This is the advantage of having a large range of operations.

While the distance was indeed effective in preventing a surprise attack by the Han army, it also meant that Zhang Liao would have to travel a long and unnecessary distance when he wanted to launch a surprise attack, which gave Shen Yi ample time to react.

Shen Yi guessed that the distance between Zhang Liao and Yu Han was no more than fifty li. So, while using scouts and sound tubes to keep an eye on the movements of the Wei cavalry, he calculated the approximate time when the Wei army would arrive based on the distance between them and the Wei army and their marching speed. He then set up a defensive formation a quarter of an hour in advance.

At 3:45 AM, Zhang Liao successfully charged to Shen Yi's side, only to find that the Han army was already in full battle array, with the camp ablaze with fire and the Guan-character banner fluttering in the wind. He couldn't help but curse inwardly, "Damn it, the Han army reacted so quickly."

Deputy General Zhuge Qian asked, "General, what should we do now? Should we try a charge?"

Zhang Liao shook his head and said, "There's no need. The fact that Guan Xing dares to wait for us here proves that he has already set up horse traps or other traps. His forces are five or six times ours. Rushing over here will only increase casualties and will not make any difference."

"Wait, wait until they pack up and set off, then we'll pursue them relentlessly. Once they realize what's happening, we'll quickly retreat and create distance. Then we'll chase them again once they've set off. We'll keep doing this, slowly bleeding Guan Xing dry."

The best way to become famous is to step on famous people to rise to the top. Guan Xing did this very well. He had already elevated himself to the same level as Guan Yu and Cao Ren through his brilliant achievements such as annihilating the Wu army's eastern expeditionary force, killing Han Dang and Xu Sheng, and capturing Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin alive. Zhang Liao dared not take Guan Xing lightly in front of him.

Zhuge Qian frowned and said, "I'm afraid we can't catch up for long. Sun and Moon Lake (Junshan Lake) is just a hundred miles away. The area around Sun and Moon Lake is covered with a dense network of waterways, making it impossible for cavalry to pass. In other words, we can only catch up to Sun and Moon Lake at most before we have to give up."

Zhang Liao laughed and said, "Isn't that a good thing? After escorting Guan Xing across Riyue Lake, we can turn around and attack Yuhan City, thus avoiding a head-on confrontation with Guan Xing."

"By the way, send someone to inform Yu Fan that we are keeping an eye on things so he doesn't have to worry about Guan Xing's rapid arrival. While we are using this time to recuperate, we should also quickly eliminate any potential threats to stability in the city, so that a Mi Fang or Fu Shiren doesn't emerge in Nanchang after Guan Xing's army comes to the city."

He really didn't want to deal with Wu Jun and his bunch of incompetent teammates, but since they were now in a cooperative relationship, he had to remind them when necessary. Otherwise, if Nanchang was lost, he would have to face Guan Xing alone, which would be too much pressure.

“Yes…” Zhuge Qian nodded and accepted the order, then continued to ask, “We can’t just stand here and keep attacking Guan Xing, can we? The man can hold out, but the horse can’t.”

Zhang Liao pondered and said, "What you said makes sense. We can't play this kind of attrition game with Guan Xing. Just leave the scouts here to keep an eye on things. The rest of us can retreat five miles to rest. From now on, we will maintain a distance of five to ten miles from Guan Xing at all times. This way, we can put pressure on Guan Xing while ensuring that we can launch a quick attack if an opportunity arises and retreat in time if the Han army attacks."

After saying this, he led his cavalry and turned to retreat. Shen Yi, who had been standing on the grain cart and keeping a close eye on the Wei army, breathed a sigh of relief, jumped off the grain cart and said, "It seems that the Wei army will not attack tonight. Divide the army into two parts, one on guard and the other resting."

Hao Yu, upon receiving the order, asked curiously, "General, those dark figures at the very front were clearly Wei generals, and possibly even Zhang Liao himself. Why didn't you use the Three Dukes Ballista to shoot them? Perhaps you would have hit them."

The triple-bow crossbow was designed and manufactured by Guan Xing's steel mill. It had a range of up to 600-700 paces and could penetrate a palm-thick wooden board within 500 paces.

However, due to the complexity of manufacturing the triple-bow crossbow, the Han army only had about twenty of them in total. Previously, Shen Yi had set them up on the city wall of Damu to deal with Lu Xun. This time, Shen Yi brought all the triple-bow crossbows with him, leaving ten to help Ning Huan defend the city, and the remaining ten were in the army.

Upon hearing this, Shen Yi shook his head and said, "The Wei general was about 700 or 800 meters away from us just now, right at the edge of the maximum range of the ballista. In addition, the wind was quite strong tonight. Not only would the shot miss, but it might also expose our trump card. It would be a loss."

"More importantly, the Wei army is in high spirits when they arrive. Our defensive equipment looks powerful, but it won't hold out for long. If Zhang Liao is killed and the Wei cavalry goes berserk, our losses will be huge."

Although the temptation to kill Zhang Liao was great, the probability of success was too small, and the consequences of success were unpredictable. Therefore, Shen Yi did not dare to take the risk. He patted Hao Yu on the shoulder and laughed, "Hang in there. We'll be safe once we cross Sun and Moon Lake."