Chapter 1045: Defeat of Zhang Nanbu’s Army

When Hua Xiong led the cavalry to catch up with Zhang Nan's army, tens of thousands of them were heading towards Yuancheng with torches, less than 20 miles away from Yuancheng. After receiving the news from the cavalry that the cavalry of the Eastern Expedition Army had left, Zhang Nan ordered the army to rest on the spot and ordered the cook to prepare dinner immediately. However, after dinner, he did not order to set up camp on the spot, but ordered the army to set out to Yuancheng overnight. The soldiers of Yuan Shao's army did not have no complaints, but were frightened by Zhang Nan's words: "If the cavalry of the Eastern Expedition Army comes again tomorrow, can you stop them?"

After the army hurriedly ate dinner, they hurriedly set off towards Yuancheng, but no one expected that the Eastern Expedition Army would chase them overnight.

As Hua Xiong expected, when they arrived, tens of thousands of Yuan Shao's army were hurrying on the road with torches. Fortunately, the soldiers had already eaten dinner, and although they were tired, they could still hold on.

In the army, Zhang Nan was sitting on a warhorse, chatting with Jiao Chu. Suddenly, he heard a muffled thunder in the sky. He subconsciously looked up at the sky. Although there was no moon in the dark sky, there were stars all over the sky. He was wondering why there was thunder when there were stars in the sky.

Suddenly, he realized that it was not thunder, but... cavalry...

Thinking of this, he turned his head to look in the direction of the sound. Sure enough, there were countless points of fire behind him, moving quickly towards this side. Not only him, many soldiers had already discovered the fire behind them, and suddenly, the whole army was like a pot of boiling water.

"The cavalry is coming!"

"The cavalry of the Eastern Expedition Army is coming!"

"Run!"

"Quickly form a battle array! Quick, quick, quick!"

Countless soldiers shouted in fear, and no one paid any attention to the arrangements of the generals around them. Soon, someone threw away the torch in his hand and ran wildly into the darkness beside him. After one person ran away, the people around him immediately followed suit. Soon, more and more soldiers joined the escape, and the entire army instantly became a mess.

Seeing this situation, Zhang Nan knew that he was powerless to save the situation. During the day, the powerful combat power of the Eastern Expedition Army cavalry had already put great pressure on the soldiers. Now that his army was on the march, it was impossible to form a battle array to meet the enemy.

After a few moments of consideration, Zhang Nan gritted his teeth and said to Jiao Chu: "Brother Jiao, run away. It is impossible to stop the attack of the cavalry of the Eastern Expedition Army now. Order the soldiers to evacuate in different places and gather the troops in Yuancheng!"

Jiao Chu also knew that it was impossible to do so, so he had no choice but to agree with Zhang Nan's suggestion. The two ordered the surrounding soldiers to shout in unison: "Run, break out in different places!"

After shouting several times, the two, under the protection of hundreds of soldiers, abandoned all the soldiers and ran towards Yuancheng.

The escape of the commander made the army even more chaotic. When Hua Xiong arrived with the cavalry, the entire Yuan Shao army was in chaos. Seeing this, Hua Xiong laughed, raised the long sword in his hand, and shouted loudly: "My men, it's time to drive the sheep, kill..."

"Kill..."

Thousands of cavalry shouted in unison, and divided into several groups to kill the chaotic Yuan Shao army. In a moment, several cavalry rushed into Yuan Shao's army as if they were in an empty space, killing each other and turning the already chaotic army upside down.

Yuan Shao's soldiers were terrified and fled in all directions, throwing all their weapons and equipment everywhere. Some clever soldiers threw their things and ran into the night on both sides, disappearing in the vast night. Many soldiers ran around in all directions, and some of them ran in a daze and even ran directly in the direction of the cavalry, and were stabbed to death by the cavalry.

The killing continued until dawn, and at this time, Hua Xiong had led a cavalry to the city of Yuancheng, and only turned back when he saw the city wall. All the way back,

they kept collecting captured Yuan Shao soldiers all the way. When they returned to the place where they fought last night, Hua Xiong's cavalry alone had captured nearly two thousand Yuan Shao soldiers.

After all the cavalry returned, Hua Xiong was shocked by the result. In the melee last night, Yuan Shao's army suffered 10,000 casualties, and more than half of them were killed and injured because of the trampling of the chaotic army. The prisoners collected by various units added up to nearly 5,000 people, and the remaining 20,000 Yuan Shao soldiers fled in the dark and disappeared.

As for equipment and supplies, almost all of the equipment of 40,000 people was thrown here, plus the food and supplies of 40,000 soldiers for nearly a month, which were scattered on the plains with a radius of more than ten miles.

The equipment and supplies everywhere made the soldiers of the Zhengdong Army very happy. Five thousand captives were driven by the cavalry to collect various supplies, and then they were repacked. It was not until noon that all these things were packed, and then the five thousand captives were responsible for carrying them back to Wei County.

Two days later, Yuan Xi, the prefect of Qinghe in Ganling City, received the news of Zhang Nan's army's defeat. In the end, only 15,000 of the 40,000 troops were gathered, and the other 5,000 were nowhere to be found. Moreover, these 15,000 troops basically returned to Yuancheng empty-handed, and all their equipment and supplies were lost.

Yuan Xi, who received the news, did not dare to hide it and reported everything to his father in Nanpi City. However, in the military report, Yuan Xi still attributed the defeat of Zhang Nan and the others to the strength of the opponent's cavalry, thus gaining their loyalty. At this time, Zhao Yun and Hua Xiong had already left Wei County with these supplies and prisoners and headed towards Ye County.

After receiving Yuan Xi's battle report, Yuan Shao in Nanpi City was so angry that his face turned pale. He immediately called for sending troops to attack Wei County, but was finally persuaded by a group of military advisors. There was no other reason. It was mainly because of a major battle some time ago that he lost half of the 40,000 cavalry he had accumulated for a year. Now he only had 20,000 cavalry, which was not enough to deal with the cavalry of the Eastern Expedition Army, so he had to temporarily suppress his anger.

The result of this battle stunned Zhao Yun. He had only wanted to create some trouble for Yuan Shao's army, to let them know that Weijun was not a place where they could come and go as they pleased. Who knew that, as a result of Zhang Nan's mistake, he led more than 10,000 cavalrymen to go on the expedition, and finally not only defeated Yuan Shao's 40,000 troops, but also captured 5,000, and harvested the weapons, equipment, and food and supplies of the 40,000 troops. Zhao Yun and his men who returned to Yecheng were still afraid that Yuan Shao would be furious and attack, but after a few days, Yuan Shao's army did not make any movement, so they breathed a sigh of relief.