Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2281 Lan Yu's Ten Thousand Cavalry Intercept the Long Wind, Wu Zhiqi's Second Battle and High Favor
However, at this time, although Feng Yi was still sweeping through the counties behind Zhao Changfeng, his troops had not yet fully pressed forward.

However, Chang Yuchun, who was ahead of them, was keeping them firmly under control. Under these circumstances, how to retreat safely was still a big problem for Zhao Changfeng!

Even Zhao Changfeng himself thought it was unrealistic to bring all of the hundreds of thousands of troops back to Guanzhong.

Therefore, all he could do was to preserve the elite troops as much as possible and use the weaker units to fight for the survival of the most elite part of his hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Zhao Changfeng, with Zhong E, Pan Mei, and Yang Guangyi each leading 20,000 troops, divided them into three routes to intercept Chang Yuchun's pursuing forces.

Zhong E, Pan Mei, and Yang Guangyi were all core members of Zhao Kuangyin's inner circle. In fact, Yang Guangyi was Zhao Kuangyin's sworn brother and was absolutely loyal to him.

Moreover, the Zhong family suffered the most severe losses in this great war.

Pan Mei's sons, Pan Weide and Pan Weigu, also died on the battlefield earlier, at the hands of the enemy general Xiong Kuohai.

Therefore, these three men were all staunch loyalists of the Zhao Song dynasty. Zhao Changfeng could only feel at ease entrusting tasks like covering the rear with such men.

Even Feng Yi, who had not yet fully encircled Zhao Kuangyin, was not overlooked. Zhao Changfeng appointed Han Chongyun, who was also Zhao Kuangyin's sworn brother, as his general, and had him lead 20,000 troops to block Feng Yi from the rear.

He, along with Li Jilong and Gao Huaide, led the remaining 80,000 troops in three separate routes, retreating rapidly towards the Guandong region from three different directions.

Although Zhao Changfeng abandoned half of his troops, the remaining 80,000 troops were the most elite half of the original 160,000 troops, thus preserving as much of Zhao Song's fighting force as possible.

"Brother-in-law, we can't catch up with the troops on the right!"

"Although the Song army is closest to us, they are all cavalry. Whether our army breaks through these three lines of defense or the cavalry takes a detour, I'm afraid we won't be able to intercept them!"

"In my opinion, we should send the entire army forward to wipe out the three rearguard forces left by Zhao Song, and at the same time mobilize all cavalry to intercept the other two enemy forces!" Lan Yu suggested to Chang Yuchun after noticing that Zhao Changfeng had begun to retreat.

Zhao Changfeng's move was indeed ambitious, deploying 60,000 troops in three defensive lines. Even if they disregarded casualties and broke through these three lines, by the time they broke through all of them, the enemy would have vanished.

Therefore, the only solution is to use infantry to wipe out the enemy's rearguard while gathering all cavalry to bypass and intercept them.

After all, Zhao Changfeng left behind so many troops to cover the retreat, their numbers were almost equal to the number of troops they had retreated.

These scattered forces could be considered a win-win situation if they were to take down any one of them!
No matter how the battle is fought, the war in Hexi Road will inevitably deal a heavy blow to the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Changfeng then divided the remaining 80,000 troops into three routes for retreat, one of which concentrated all the Zhao Song cavalry on the Hexi Road battlefield.

Clearly, Zhao Changfeng concentrated all his cavalry on one route for the retreat, obviously in order to completely preserve this army.

"Lan Yu, all 20,000 cavalrymen under my command are yours. Deng Jiugong and Wu Hou will also temporarily join your ranks to pursue the enemy's fleeing troops in the middle route!" Chang Yuchun said decisively. Chang Yuchun did not insist on leaving all 160,000 troops in Hexi Road. A complete annihilation battle is not easy to win, let alone against a seasoned general like Zhao Changfeng.

In the plains of Hexi Corridor, even though the Han army had more than twice the size of the enemy forces, they were still in a strong position.

However, to achieve this goal, sufficient time and effort are still required for preparation. Even then, success is not guaranteed.

Clearly, Zhao Changfeng, a seasoned general, was extremely clear-headed. Therefore, before his arrangements with Feng Yi were even complete, he decisively abandoned the entire Hexi Road as a sacrifice, thus completely breaking out of the encirclement and avoiding the possibility of his troops being completely surrounded.

In this situation, the best approach is to have a bird in the hand rather than ten in the bush, and to eliminate as much of the enemy's manpower as possible.

After all, the enemy can escape, but they can't escape their ancestral temple.

Even if some of the remaining soldiers escaped from Hexi Road, where could they possibly escape to?

It's nothing more than the Kanto and Kansai regions, just those two!
Having lost the Hexi region, the Song dynasty would have no chance of winning against the Han dynasty!

Even if the Han Dynasty didn't launch an attack, simply using its large army to drag the enemy down would be enough to bring down the Song Dynasty!
Meanwhile, Feng Yi's troops, who were taking advantage of the emptiness in the rear of Hexi Road to continuously attack and seize territory, were blocked by Han Zhongyun's 20,000 troops. However, Feng Yi was not satisfied with just wiping out these 20,000 troops.

Coincidentally, Feng Yi chose the same direction to pursue as Chang Yuchun.

Chang Yuchun chose the middle route of the three pursuing troops because it was the closest to him and his men, excluding the cavalry, and the route that was easiest for him to catch up with.

The reason Feng Yi also chose this route was because Bai Qi and Zhang Liang determined that Zhao Changfeng was the most likely to appear on this route.

Clearly, of the three groups of fleeing enemy troops, the one group where Zhao Changfeng is located will be the most valuable to pursue!
Alternatively, Bai Qi and Zhang Liang deduced from Zhao Changfeng's deployment of three armies that Zhao Changfeng might be planning a counterattack while retreating.

If their guess is true, then the mid-lane troops are the most crucial element.

Therefore, Bai Qi led 10,000 cavalrymen to join the pursuit of the three armies, including the central Zhao Song army.

However, since Feng Yi's army was still conquering cities and territories in the rear, their advance had not yet directly reached the front.

Therefore, even though they were chasing in the same direction, Bai Qi's route was much longer than Lan Yu's.

Meanwhile, Lan Yu, having received Chang Yuchun's order to pursue, led 20,000 cavalrymen, bypassing the enemy's blocking forces, and marched rapidly for several days. Finally, at a hilly area, they intercepted their target in time.

And a great battle is about to break out!
(End of this chapter)