Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 81.

Last time, we left off with Zhuge Liang about to face off against Zhang Ren,

the commander of the Riverlands troops guarding Luo Cheng, the city that Zhuge Liang about to face off against Zhang Ren, the commander of the Riverlands troops guarding

Luo Cheng, the city that Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei were besieging. The two sides squared off on the

battlefield, but Zhuge Liang came out with a sorry-looking bunch of soldiers. Seeing this, Zhang Ren did not

hesitate and order his men to charge.

As soon as they did, Zhuge Liang quickly abandoned his carriage, hopped on a horse,

and led his rag-tag bunch back across Golden Goose bridge.

Zhang Ren pursued him across the bridge, but as soon as he was across,

he could see Liu Bei charging forth from the left

and the general Yan Yan sweeping in from the right. Recognizing that he had fallen for a ruse,

Zhang Ren tried to turn back, but lo and behold, the bridge had already been taken apart,

which was an impressively efficient feat by another of Liu Bei's generals, Zhao Yun,

who had orders to wait until Zhang Ren was across and then tear up the bridge.

What's more, Zhao Yun and his men now guarded the shore, which made Zhang Ren think twice

about fleeing back that way. Instead, he fled south along the river.

Before he had gone but a couple miles, though, he ran into another ambush. The generals Wei Yan and Huang Zhong

sprang out of the reeds with a thousand men each. Wei Yan's men stabbed at Zhang Ren's riders

with long spears, while Huang Zhong's men slashed the legs of their horses with knives.

It was a disaster for Zhang Ren's cavalry, and when the infantry behind them saw the cavalry disintegrate, no one dared to go forward.

Zhang Ren was now left with just a few dozen riders as he headed toward the back roads in the

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