Chapter 223: The Enemy Behind

Bang!

A fierce burst of Qi knocked Xu Rong's weapon away and sent his entire body flying, causing him to land on the ground ten zhang away; the next second, the tip of a Long Spear was pressed against Xu Rong's throat.

"Tie him up!"

The Duke had said in advance to capture this man alive, and since it was said that this man had great ability in commanding troops, Chen Dao naturally would not use excessive force.

The battle ended with the capture of Xu Rong; of the three thousand infantry and five hundred Cavalry that Xu Rong had brought out, only half remained, while the others had already died in battle.

Afterward, everyone quickly headed toward the direction of the Shuizhai.

When they reached the Shuizhai, the majority of Niu Fu's army had already boarded ships and were drifting on the Yellow River; the remaining small portion, only about ten thousand men, were not Niu Fu's direct subordinates but merely Local Army, possessing little combat power.

"What a pity, we let Niu Fu escape."

Tao Qian also came over and looked somewhat disappointed upon seeing this.

"That is not necessarily true."

Su Fan gazed into the distance, a smile with a special meaning on his face.

"What? Ning'an, could it be that you still have a backup plan?"

Tao Qian and Kong Zhou looked sideways, and even Zhang Yang, who had come over shamelessly, looked at Su Fan; Su Fan smiled when he saw this.

"Gentlemen, let us wait until we have crossed the river to see; I cannot say for sure right now."

"You intend to board the ships and cross the river?"

Tao Qian said in alarm: "Ning'an, this will not do, it is too dangerous. Niu Fu and his men are already in the river; by the time you board the ships, they will have almost reached the opposite bank. At that time, as long as they wait for you on the shore..."

Tao Qian did not finish, but the meaning was very clear.

"Governor Tao, I am aware of that, of course, but I do not intend to actually go ashore; I only plan to give them some counterattacks while on the river. It just so happens that these ships are not small, enough for us to embark five thousand troops."

The shipbuilding technology of this world, although not as good as later generations, is still much more powerful than in ancient times; even the ships sailing in Henei are about three to five hundred tons, with the large ones reaching over a thousand tons.

Of course, at this moment, the ships here are only about two hundred tons, but that is already enough.

Although the army under Su Fan's command is infantry, a portion of them can be called naval forces, or rather, marines; they spend a period of time training on the sea.

Piloting these Henei ships is no problem.

"Governor Tao, do not worry about us; we will only use Crossbows on the ships to harass Niu Fu's army from a distance."

Of course, it is also to provide cover for Zang Ba's five thousand troops.

"General, the scout squad has already discovered movement at the wharf on the shore."

"Is that so? It is just as the Duke said."

"Haha! Our opportunity to achieve merit and establish a career has arrived; the whole army, prepare!"

Upon hearing this, Zang Ba was full of excitement, and the officers under his command were also eager to act; for this surprise attack, they had crossed mountains and ridges, climbed hills and waded through water, and finally arrived at the opposite bank, just waiting for this opportunity.

At the river wharf, one large ship after another pulled into the shore, and then batches of soldiers jumped off the ships quickly.

Some were even so impatient that they jumped directly into the river and swam to the bank, as if they were being chased by fierce tigers from behind.

In reality, there were indeed more than thirty large ships chasing from behind, continuously firing various types of crossbow bolts.

"Damn it, archers, get to the shore immediately and fire back for me!"

Seeing the pursuers behind him, Niu Fu's face turned ashen; since there were pursuers behind, it was very likely that Xu Rong's troop had failed.

He could no longer care about what Xu Rong was doing to have been broken through by the enemy so quickly.

Now he needed to immediately set up a defensive battle formation; of course, once his entire army was ashore, he would have the advantage.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

In this dark night, the two armies kept having their archers and crossbowmen fire at each other; unfortunately, although the range of Niu Fu's archers was about the same as the Xuzhou soldiers, the power of their Arrow was far inferior to the crossbows.

Added to that, the arrows of the Xuzhou soldiers were heavy arrows, which had greater lethality.

After the two sides exchanged fire, Niu Fu's side suffered more, especially since the Xuzhou soldiers were on ships and spread out on the river surface, while his army was more concentrated at the wharf.

As they kept firing, his casualties grew higher and higher.

"Damn it!"

Seeing this situation, Niu Fu's eyes were about to split with rage.

Rumble!

However, what followed made him even more horrified and terrified.

He was quite familiar with this sound; it was the sound of Cavalry charging.

"Could it be reinforcements? But if my father-in-law had sent reinforcements, he should have said something."

He was suspicious in his heart, but it did not take long for his doubts to vanish.

"Enemy attack!"

The sound coming from behind the wharf made his heart turn cold; an enemy attack, where did the enemy come from?

The opposite side of this riverbank was their territory; when had the enemy already arrived at their rear?

However, not giving Niu Fu much time to think, the rolling Cavalry, carrying a terrifying murderous aura, charged directly.

They had not organized any defensive formation at all before they were scattered by the Cavalry charge.

"It is over!"

Niu Fu's vision almost went black; he knew clearly what the final result would be when charged by Cavalry. He himself had previously commanded the iron cavalry of the Xiliang Army, which was the uncrowned king, unstoppable.

Under the pincer attack from front and rear, they originally did not have much morale, and now, even the Xiliang Army had no desire to fight, fleeing frantically one by one.

"General, run quickly!"

Niu Fu stood there stunned, but his personal guards, seeing their general dazed, hurriedly grabbed Niu Fu's horse reins and pulled him, fleeing in another direction.

At the moment, on the wharf, the army had already fallen into a state like a camp riot; countless soldiers were running around frantically like headless flies, and those with weapons in their hands were even attacking the companions around them who were blocking their way.

"Haha!"

"Satisfying! Kill for me!"

The sounds of slaughter, crying, and begging for mercy drifted over the surface of the river in the middle of this dark night.

"It seems Xuangao has succeeded; I didn't expect it to be so easy."

Su Fan stood at the bow of the boat, gazing at the flames on the distant pier and the chaotic shouting coming from within, a smile on his face.

"My Duke, taking down Niu Fu's great army this time will surely make your prestige shake the world."

Chen Dao stood beside Su Fan, smiling as he offered his congratulations.

"Haha! It is far too early to speak of prestige shaking the world; Niu Fu only has the talent of a Colonel. Putting him in command of the three armies is only harming him."

Su Fan shook his head; if this great army had been commanded by Xu Rong, it would never have ended up like this, and the opponent would not have chosen to cross the river.

Sitting and waiting on the opposite bank for the allied forces to arrive was the best strategy; if the allied forces dared to cross the river, they could have launched continuous attacks from the riverbank, preventing them from crossing easily.

The Yellow River is treacherous, and there are only a few places with ferries where one can cross.

The ferry crossing Su Fan chose could only allow people to cross in small groups, and even then, it took three days to complete.

It is a pity that Niu Fu did not understand this; by crossing the river to Henei to intercept the allied forces, he abandoned the advantage of the terrain.

It can be said that his failure was entirely of his own making.