Healed Wounds, Forgotten Pain

Cao Ren withdrew from Fancheng in two columns. Pang De's cavalry was tasked with intercepting Yin Shu and Zhu Gai's units, while Guan Yu consolidated the cavalry from all Jing Province camps into a single force, placing them under the command of Zhang Fei, who was well-versed in "guerrilla tactics."

Guan Yu instructed Zhang Fei and Pang De to focus primarily on harassment. He ordered them to preserve their strength while doing their utmost to leave as many of Fancheng's retreating troops behind as possible. In short, they were not required to annihilate the enemy entirely, but they had to "pluck a feather from every goose that passed."

The mission of Yin Shu and Zhu Gai's units was to drive the refugees toward Deng County, but knowing the extreme danger of this task, the two abandoned the civilians and fled toward the northwest while still twenty miles away from Deng County.

On the vast plains west of Deng County, Zhang Fei and Pang De launched a two-day pursuit of the Fancheng deserters. Together, the two units beheaded over four thousand Cao Army soldiers. Because Yin Shu and Zhu Gai's units lagged behind, their formations were scattered during the pursuit, and both Cao Ren and Xu Huang's forces suffered significant losses.

After clearing the battlefield, Zhang Fei and Pang De returned to Deng County together to report their victory. Everyone was deeply impressed by Lan Tian's strategy, especially his use of psychological warfare to force Cao Ren's retreat.

Guan Yu could not help but praise him: "War is a path of deception. Sun Tzu said, 'The highest form of warfare is to attack the enemy's strategy,' and 'subdue the enemy without fighting.' Ziyu, you truly possess hidden wisdom. I have never heard of such tactics; in which book of military strategy