Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2604 The Three Beasts Surround the Lion Camel, What Will Be the Fate of the Great Sage Who Moved Mountains?
The Qin government's forces in Youzhou could indeed be described as having a multitude of fierce generals.

There are at least two hands' worth of experts at the level of divine generals.

Even among those who followed Han Xin, despite the presence of six top-tier generals, most of them were actually relatively weak compared to other top-tier generals in Youzhou.

The most formidable ones were still with Wang Zhi at this time.

After all, Li Mu still has formidable figures like Li Cunxiao and Bai Hu on his side.

Wang Zhi also needs the help of Qin Long, Jiang Chen, Shi Huang, and Qin Gou. The combined strength of these four is far superior to that of the six Han Xin was with.

Otherwise, Youzhou would not have been able to single-handedly block the Manchus in the north and defend against the Tang dynasty in the east.

With six god-like generals charging forward, they were unstoppable. At least, no one could stop Qi Jiguang.

Wu Weizhong and Chen Ziluan did try to resist, but the former was killed by Jin Pengyipeng, and the latter was knocked off his horse by Bai Xiang's whip. Before he could stand up, Chong Heihu had already thrown a dart.

The speed at which the Youzhou army advanced made Qi Jiguang's face darken upon receiving the news.

He made immediate arrangements after receiving news of the enemy's attack on the camp.

However, a short while later, new news arrived that the enemy had already passed through their forward camp and was about to reach them.

At this rate, by the time all the troops surround him, the enemy will have already killed him several times over.

If the enemy kills him, what use is it for his troops to surround him? Or rather, if even the commander-in-chief is dead, how can the troops below fight?

Previously, Qi Jiguang had never heard of any general in Youzhou who could move so swiftly as the wind.

Therefore, from the outset, Qi Jiguang was forced to avoid his sharp edge.

Of course, to put it nicely, it's called avoiding the enemy's sharp edge; to put it bluntly, it's running away.

Qi Jiguang had no choice but to admit defeat in this battle.

However, even in defeat, there are differences between major and minor defeats.

The enemy forces were small, and there was no large force following behind. Even if their troops were defeated, the direct casualties would be limited, and most of them would flee in all directions.

As long as Qi Jiguang is still alive, he can naturally regroup these scattered troops.

But if he dies here, and this army is routed, it won't be as easy for the remaining generals to regroup the scattered troops as it is for him, the commander-in-chief.

Qi Jiguang's idea was to escape to a nearby county or mountain forest. If the enemy dared to pursue them again, they might have a chance to launch a counterattack.

At the same time, Qi Jiguang's choice to avoid the enemy's sharp edge at this time may also have been intended to draw the enemy troops over, giving other generals time to regroup their forces.

If the generals successfully gather all their troops, there is still a chance to counter-encircle them.

However, Qi Jiguang misjudged Han Xin.

When Qi Jiguang made his escape public, Han Xin did indeed give chase for a short while.

However, they did not actually pursue Qi Jiguang relentlessly. After a brief, feigned chase, they immediately launched a counterattack, scattering Qi Jiguang's forces into pieces. Although Qi Jiguang was an important figure in the Jin army—after all, although the Jin army now had three naval forces, the Yangtze River Fleet was still the largest, and the other two combined were not as large as the Yangtze River Fleet—they did not truly pursue Qi Jiguang.

Under normal circumstances, the significance of beheading such a Jin general would be immense.

If Qi Jiguang could truly be killed, then he would likely become the highest-ranking Jin general to die in the past twenty years, second only to Su Dingfang.

However, this is different from the past.

While the symbolic significance of killing Qi Jiguang is great, compared to the actual significance of Youzhou today, this symbolic significance has to take a backseat.

Compared to Qi Jiguang, Han Xin cared more about his 30,000 soldiers.

After all, with the Youzhou navy already completely annihilated, how much practical significance would killing Qi Jiguang have for them? If Qi Jiguang was gone, there would still be Li Jiguang or Zhao Jiguang.

At this point, reducing the Shangjin army's strength by tens of thousands of troops would truly alleviate their pressure.

Therefore, Han Xin did not do what Qi Jiguang had planned at all.

After Qi Jiguang left, the Jin army generals who were reorganizing their troops and equipment to launch a counter-encirclement were likely in deep trouble.

Han Xin suddenly turned back, catching them off guard once again.

The four generals, Jiao Mo, Shi Tuo, Peng Mo, and Li Yu, joined forces to put up a low resistance, but they were still forced to retreat by the Youzhou iron cavalry.

Coincidentally, Qi Jiguang, who knew that the Youzhou army was not pursuing him as their commander, realized at this moment that the situation was completely beyond saving.

Therefore, the only option was to send someone back to order each general to lead their troops in a breakout, allowing as many as possible to escape.

At this point, the only option is to cut your losses.

However, at this point, it's not so easy to escape.

Qin Shi, Bai Xiang, and Jin Peng joined forces to block the Jin army's fierce general Shi Tuo, while Du Hui, Cheng Jing, and Qin Yao, three god-level generals, chased after Jiao Mo, Peng Mo, and Li Yu.

If Qin Shi, Bai Xiang, and Jin Peng joined forces, they would be qualified to fight Li Yuanba. And if the three of them worked together to defeat one person, it would definitely not take long.

Therefore, for the Youzhou army, the three god-level generals Du Hui, Cheng Jing, and Qin Yao did not need to kill the other three. They only needed to hold them back and slow down the enemy's escape, allowing them to escape with all their might.

In this way, after Qin Shi, Bai Xiang, and Jin Peng took care of the one they had besieged, they could then deal with the remaining three one by one.

As for the other generals of Youqin, after breaking the Jin army into pieces, they once again dispersed their cavalry and did their best to maximize the damage to the Jin army.

Furthermore, when the time was right, Han Xin's order was no longer to kill directly, but to wound as severely as possible.

Given the current situation of the Youzhou army, severely wounding an enemy is more effective than directly killing one.

Of course, things can change on the battlefield, so when Han Xin issued this order, he did not force his subordinates to do so, but simply asked them to do their best.

Meanwhile, Shi Tuo, a fierce general of the Jin army, was facing a life-or-death situation in the face of the combined attacks of Qin Shi, Bai Xiang, and Jin Peng, the three masters of the Jin army. It was the most dangerous moment of his life.

(End of this chapter)