Chapter 157: Defeat Chen Ce Again, a Makeshift Team However, ever since Qin Zhen led his troops here, Chen Ce was afraid of Qin Zhen's power, so he ordered people to guard the key points. In addition to patrolling the mountain roads every day, he also sent his men to disguise themselves as mountain hunters to search for news about Qin Zhen's army. Unexpectedly, for several days, Qin Zhen remained inactive. They were stationed in front of Huoshan Road, conducting military exercises every day, with no intention of advancing. Seeing this situation, the bandits naturally became panicked. They didn't know that Qin Zhen was deliberately delaying, and they thought that Qin Zhen was plotting something. It's not that he didn't take any action, but they just didn't detect it. It is not scary when ghosts scare people, but it is scariest when people scare themselves. He immediately dispatched his men to closely monitor all important roads. Although the Huoshan stronghold is located among the mountains, it is open to the wind on all sides and has dozens of important roads of various sizes.

Now is the time when the ice and snow are melting and the weather is cold. It is good for Qin Zhen's troops to stay in the camp, but these bandits patrolling the main roads every day are suffering! Seeing this, Chen Ce knew that this would not work, so he called all the leaders over and said: "I have long heard that Qin Zhen's methods of using troops are strange and bizarre. Now I see that it is indeed true!" "He led his troops here but has not moved for days. I really don't know what his intention is." "It's cold right now. We are trapped here. We don't have enough food. We also have to prevent him from attacking us. We have to guard the main roads." "If this continues, I'm afraid we will be trapped and die here before he can break into the mountain!" When everyone heard this, they all looked worried. These bandits are not afraid of the government troops attacking the mountain, but they are afraid of encountering Qin Zhen's tactics that he cannot figure out. Now they dare not attack, nor retreat. I really don't know how to deal with it! While he was thinking, he saw a man stand up and say: "Marshal, since he is not taking any action now, why don't we take the initiative to attack him!" "I heard a report from a small officer today that someone in Qin Zhen's army was drinking and was caught by him and nearly beheaded!" "When his generals saw this, they were all terrified. The morale of the army was low!" "Why don't we take this opportunity to fight him? First, we can test his strength. Second, if we can win, we will have fewer complaints!" Chen Ce was trying to figure out a way to break the impasse. Hearing this, he was overjoyed and said: "Did this really happen in Qin Zhen's army?" He thought that no matter how powerful Qin Zhen's military tactics were, mistakes would occur when the army's morale was low. If this is true, then they can find an opportunity to win the next game. I don't ask to defeat Qin Zhen completely, but at least I want to get back at the humiliation I have endured during this period of time.

As soon as he finished speaking, the man said with certainty: "This must be true, because Qin Zhen's army has little meat and does not plunder, so they send people into the village every day to buy pigs and sheep." "But he didn't know that we have spies in the villages around Huoshan. When something like this happened, the soldiers in the army were talking about it, and it was discovered by our spies." "I thought that everyone in the army was in danger, and it was the right time for us to advance, so I dared to report it to the commander-in-chief!" What he said was very coherent, and Chen Ce immediately believed it, and said happily: "This is truly God's help to me. I have long heard that Qin Zhen is very strict in managing his army, which shows that his subordinates have long been afraid of him. Now that this has happened, how can they not be afraid?" "The enemy is like this, it's time for us to send out our troops!" He immediately arranged for everyone: "Go and kill the pigs and sheep to reward the men in each tribe. At three o'clock tonight, I will lead you out of the mountain and see how Qin Zhen responds!" When the bandits heard this, they were overjoyed, and they all took orders and left, preparing to go to war. Such celebrations in his village naturally could not be hidden from Qin Zhen outside the valley. He had just met with Mei Qian and given secret orders when he heard the spies report that there were sounds of celebration in the village. He immediately smiled and said to Qiao Rui: "Chen Ce is like this, he must have fallen into a trap!" "Go and tell Zilong to keep a close watch on the outside." "Then let each place be left empty, so as to lure Chen Ce to attack!" Upon hearing this, Qiao Rui immediately took the order and left, reporting the matter to Zhao Yun. He also ordered his troops to ambush in various places and wait for the enemy to arrive at night. After making these arrangements, it was soon night. At three o'clock in the night, when the moon was dim, Chen Ce led his troops out and divided his men into four groups. He went all the way from the north to the south, picking up more than 3,000 people from various tribes along the way. He himself led 4,000 soldiers and marched towards Qingshan Road. At the beginning of the fifth watch, the sky was still dark. Looking carefully, I saw that the defense of Qin Zhen's camp was loose and most of the camp was dark. Seeing this, Chen Ce secretly thought that he had come up with a plan, and said to his attendants: "It is God who has helped me to become famous here, leaving the enemy's defenses so empty." "If we defeat Qin Zhen today, our names will spread across the world in the future!" He only knew that this was the situation at the moment and did not think too much about it. He immediately led his troops into Qin Zhen's camp. But when they entered the camp, they saw that it was sparsely populated and there were not many people or horses. Just as he was in doubt, he suddenly heard shouts from all directions, and a large number of soldiers and horses rushed out from between the camps. Qiao Rui held up a big knife, led his troops out and said with a smile: "You are such a fool, you have fallen into my military advisor's trap!" Chen Ce was furious when he saw this. He was ambushed and shouted: "Don't be afraid, my men. Follow me and I will lead the generals into the camp and capture Qin Zhen!"

With a loud shout, he not only did not retreat, but instead led his troops into the camp. Because he thought that this was a three-pronged surprise attack, even if Qin Zhen set an ambush, he still had two armies. Unexpectedly, as he led his men to charge in, he heard shouts and screams from the rear, and a man came to report: "General, it's bad, there are ambushes in our rear!" Hearing this, Chen Ce was greatly shocked. Before he could say anything, he heard shouting and killing sounds coming from outside the camps on both sides in front of him, and he realized that his troops on both sides were blocked. Seeing this, he cried out that he had fallen into a trap and hurriedly led his troops to retreat. But Qiao Rui was leading the troops here, so he would not leave easily. He rode forward, raised his sword and shouted: "Enemy general, don't run away, or you will die!" Upon seeing this, Chen Ce swung his spear and turned around to fight with Qiao Rui. The two fought for several rounds without a clear winner. Although Chen Ce still had some strength left, he was afraid that his retreat would be blocked, so he made a feint with his spear and rode away. Qiao Rui saw this and immediately led his troops to chase after them. The two of them, one in front and one behind, left the camp and saw Zhao Yun leading his troops there. As soon as Chen Ce rushed out, he met Zhao Yun. After two rounds of fighting, he felt that he could not resist and hurriedly ordered his men to stop Zhao Yun and retreated towards the mountains. They were halfway there when they saw reinforcements, so they led their troops back to reinforce the rest. The battle continued until dawn, when the defeated army retreated into the mountains. When Chen Ce returned to the mountain, it was already dawn. As soon as he returned to the mountain, he saw the defeated troops retreating one after another. After a quick count, they discovered that more than half of the tens of thousands of soldiers had been killed. Several leaders who followed him were either captured or killed, and only two returned. Seeing this, Chen Ce wanted to cry but had no tears. He looked around and said: "Our army was already defeated by Qin Zhen, and now we have fallen into his trap. What should we do?" When the leaders saw this, they also looked worried. They also said that they took the initiative to win the last game, but now, they didn't win and were defeated by Qin Zhen again. If it happens twice more, all their leaders will be captured by Qin Zhen before he even gets into the mountains. Just as Qin Zhen said, these bandits are so arrogant because they can depend on each other. Now, after two major defeats, several leaders have been captured and they have lost much of their will to fight. Someone immediately stepped forward to persuade them: "General, Qin Zhen is a man of great resourcefulness, and his men are all veterans of hundreds of battles." "Although we have many people, we are no match for them. Our only option now is to surrender!" After hearing this, Chen Ce had the intention of surrendering, but he hesitated and said: "When Qin Zhen arrived, I wanted to surrender, but I'm afraid Liu Bei won't accept your words."

"So I am afraid that you are unwilling to surrender, and I am determined to resist for a while." "Now that we have been defeated twice, even if we want to surrender, Qin Zhen may not accept it!" If he had hoped before that Qin Zhen would take the initiative to send an envoy to persuade him to surrender, he really has no such hope now. Because he could see that it was effortless for Qin Zhen to beat them. If they wanted to surrender, the best opportunity would be before going to war with Liu Bei. Now that you can't win the battle, you want to surrender. There is no such good thing in the world. Apart from anything else, I'm afraid these leaders will inevitably be guilty of resistance. After he said this, all the leaders bowed their heads and kept silent. Only the man who had just spoken said: "Whether it works or not, let's give it a try first and send an envoy to test the waters." "If Qin Zhen really doesn't want to accept it, we will simply abandon this village and move to the mountains to avoid the limelight!" "If we continue to fight like this, I'm afraid we won't have a good ending!" After hearing this, Chen Ce fell into deep thought. To be honest, if possible, he really didn't want to move into the mountains. After all, Huoshan has an excellent terrain and is not far from the surrounding counties, so it is convenient to go down the mountain to plunder. If they moved into the Dabie Mountains, it would naturally be safe, but there was no guarantee that the people under his command would be willing to follow. But if they don't leave now, they won't be able to defeat Liu Bei's army. If Qin Zhen is unwilling to surrender, they will have no choice but to retreat. Thinking of this, he hurriedly found a smart subordinate and sent him out of the mountain to Qin Zhen's camp to ask for surrender. When Chen Ce asked for surrender, Qin Zhen was counting the prisoners of war in the army. Although Chen Ce suffered heavy casualties, in fact, the casualties of Liu Bei's army in the two battles did not exceed a thousand people. It was also because Chen Ce's subordinates neglected training. Although they had a large number of people, they were a makeshift team. Since he was careful in his calculations, naturally the damage would not be too great. In contrast to their losses, after two battles, they had captured nearly five thousand prisoners. However, these bandits and soldiers all had pale and miserable looks on their faces, which really made Qin Zhen lose interest in them. Most of these bandits are peasant soldiers. They are good at bullying civilians, but they don't actually have much fighting power. He is currently capturing these captives, and most of them will be used for farming in the future. So after a simple statistics, he ordered the prisoners to be gathered together and set up a camp to house them. Unexpectedly, just after he issued the resettlement order, Chen Ce's envoy to surrender arrived at the camp. Seeing the envoy coming, Qin Zhen laughed and said: "So, you are now willing to surrender to our army?"

The messenger did not know what etiquette was, and upon hearing what was said, he knelt down hastily and shouted: "We are willing to surrender to your army, and I hope the military advisor will accept it!" Having said this, he lowered his head and trembled. Zhao Yun, Qiao Rui and others all laughed secretly when they saw his appearance. Qin Zhen looked at the bandits and smiled: "You don't need to be afraid of this. If you surrender wholeheartedly, I will have no reason to refuse you!" "But you have been fighting with my army until now. Even if you are willing to surrender, I cannot trust you easily!" "Go back to the camp and tell Chen Ce that if you really want to surrender, you should order your men to take off their armor and fight, and send your weapons out of the mountain." "In this case, I know that you are sincere and will not harm me." "People like Chen Ce not only have no faults, but also receive rewards for surrendering." "If his surrender is not sincere, let him continue to resist. I will bring his head to claim the credit one day!" After saying this, he ordered the messenger to be escorted out of the camp. The messenger boy was naturally frightened when he saw Qin Zhen's power. He hurried back to the mountain and told everyone what Qin Zhen had told him. Everyone was delighted to hear that Qin Zhen was willing to surrender, but when they heard that the weapons would be sent out of the mountain, everyone's faces turned bitter. You must know that these weapons are the foundation of their survival. If they lose their weapons, they will be at the mercy of others! After some deliberation, everyone decided that the choice was left to Chen Ce. Seeing everyone like this, Chen Ce was also hesitant and immediately said to everyone: "Let me think about it for a few days before making a decision!" Seeing this, everyone knew that the matter was of great importance and did not dare to urge him. They could only wait for Chen Ce to make up his mind. While Chen Ce was considering the pros and cons, a letter sent by Qin Zhen was also delivered to Wan County. (End of this chapter)