Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Both Jiang Wei and Xun Yu could sense that Gu Rubing's plan was definitely more complex than what they saw, but they couldn't figure out what other plans Gu Rubing might have.

When they couldn't come up with a solution, they lost their organization.

Cao Ren left 50,000 troops to Jiang Wei, while he himself led 50,000 troops to join Xiahou Dun's 50,000 troops and began to pursue Gu Rubing.

Upon learning that Cao Ren had opened the city gates, Gu Rubing turned and ran with everyone.

Gu Rubing ran ahead, while Cao Ren led his troops in pursuit.

Both groups pushed their speed to the limit.

"We can't keep chasing them like this. Our speed is about the same as Liu Bei's. If we keep chasing them, we probably won't be able to catch up with Liu Bei in the end. We must find a way to stop them first."

Xiahou Dun, who was standing nearby, came to Cao Ren's side.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"In that case, I will take Cao Zhen and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and give me another 10,000 cavalry. I will pursue them first, and catch up with as many as I can."

"Okay, let's go."

Upon receiving the order, Xiahou Dun immediately led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and other cavalry to break away from the main force and began to accelerate rapidly.

An hour later, Xiahou Dun finally caught up with Gu Rubing's infantry.

However, upon seeing Xiahou Dun's cavalry, these men simply stopped and ambushed Xiahou Dun on the spot.

This also significantly reduced Xiahou Dun's speed.

After eliminating all the soldiers who were blocking their way, Xiahou Dun saw that Gu Rubing's main force had already run far away.

Xiahou Dun immediately ordered a pursuit.

The situation at the rear was being continuously reported to Gu Rubing.

"My lord, Xiahou Dun's cavalry is very fast. When they arrive, we will likely suffer heavy losses."

"Yes, my lord, how about I go and lead the Iron Cavalry to stop Xiahou Dun?"

Zhang Liao also stepped forward to volunteer for battle at this time.

Looking at Lu Su and Zhang Liao who were speaking, Gu Rubing looked ahead, hesitated for a moment, and then immediately shook his head.

"Tell everyone to speed up! Only by getting there faster can we be completely safe. Anyone who doesn't want to die, start running!"

"This……"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Liao hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

Gu Rubing's order quickly spread throughout the army, and everyone sped up their pace once again.

The two groups ran around for a whole day.

Many people even died from exhaustion, but neither side stopped or slowed down.

Xiahou Dun, leading his cavalry, relentlessly chipped away at Gu Rubing's infantry from behind.

In just one day of running, Xiahou Dun had already killed nearly 10,000 people in the rear.

These infantrymen, without exception, would stop when they realized they couldn't escape, adopt a fighting stance, and desperately fight Xiahou Dun's cavalry. However, their sacrifices could not stop Xiahou Dun for long.

Just as Xiahou Dun was feeling a bit tired, he suddenly noticed that Gu Rubing and his men had finally stopped, and many soldiers even sat down on the ground to rest.

"Haha, Liu Bei, you've finally run out of steam? I don't believe that your two legs can outrun our four legs."

Xiahou Dun laughed triumphantly.

Seeing the exhausted state of Gu Rubing's men, Xiahou Dun judged that these infantrymen had little fighting power left, and that he now had the advantage in the battle.

Gu Rubing sighed helplessly at Xiahou Dun's words.

"Xiahou Dun, you're really annoying! You just keep following us around. Can't we just be peaceful? I'll retreat, you can chase, and let me proceed safely?"

"Enter the city? You are still a day's journey from Jiangzhou City. It's probably impossible for you to enter the city. Let me tell you, we already know that there are no reinforcements in your city. Even if you all manage to return alive, it will be useless. Jiangzhou City is ours."

After saying that, Xiahou Dun laughed triumphantly again.

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing waved his hand.

Zhang Liao led the Ironclad Cavalry directly out to attack.

"Xiahou Dun, you've been chasing us all the way, but have you forgotten that we also have cavalry!"

As Zhang Liao's voice fell, ten thousand cavalrymen charged out from behind the Iron Pagoda.

Xiahou Dun's judgment was correct; the infantry indeed had little combat effectiveness. However, Gu Rubing maintained the integrity of the formation and controlled the speed of the cavalry very well, which allowed the cavalry to basically maintain their combat effectiveness.

Upon seeing the appearance of the Ironclad Cavalry and the Ironclad Pagoda, Xiahou Dun could sense that the two teams' stamina had not diminished much. In contrast, their stamina had been significantly reduced by the soldiers, since they had fought their way through.

Thinking of this, Xiahou Dun gave up on fighting and turned to run away.

"Liu Bei, let me see how you plan to defend the city with your 40,000 men."

Before leaving, Xiahou Dun left these words and then completely disappeared from Gu Rubing's sight.

"Really? I'm quite curious, how do you plan to get here?"

Gu Rubing muttered something under his breath, then looked at Lu Su.

"Zijing, is everything ready?"

"My lord, rest assured, everything is ready."

Gu Rubing smiled and nodded.

Upon seeing Xiahou Dun return, Cao Ren immediately went forward.

"Why are you back? Was there an ambush ahead?"

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Dun immediately shook his head and recounted the story of Zhang Liao and the cavalry.

As long as there was no ambush, Cao Ren was not worried and immediately led his troops to give chase.

When they finally saw Gu Rubing and the others, an hour had passed.

At this moment, Gu Rubing was standing not far from them.

However, Cao Ren did not dare to make a direct move.

Because there was a hill in front of Gu Rubing, which was the perfect place for an ambush, they had no idea whether Gu Rubing had set up an ambush there.

"Liu Bei is right ahead, why don't we attack?"

The Xiahou brothers did not quite understand Cao Ren's actions.

"Be careful of fraud."

"How could it be a trap? I just ran away from that place without knowing anything about it. If it were a trap, how could I have come back alive?"

Xiahou Dun looked at Cao Ren with some dissatisfaction.

However, Cao Ren ignored this and turned to look at Xun Yu beside him.

"Sir, what do you think about this?"

Xun Yu had always been somewhat suspicious of Gu Rubing, which was why he requested to go with the army. However, Gu Rubing's behavior along the way made him even more confused.

The journey did indeed resemble an escape, as many people died from exhaustion while rushing.

Xun Yu looked at the situation before him, hesitated for a moment, and then pointed to the earthen mound.

"Find a few people to go up that hillside and observe. According to General Xiahou's intelligence, Liu Bei only had 50,000 men when he retreated, and lost about 10,000 on the way. So he should only have 40,000 men. See if the size of that camp is 40,000."

"Yes!"

Several soldiers climbed up the earthen slope and stood on it to observe Gu Rubing's camp.

The group then left the embankment, completely unaware that behind it, several tree branches had subtly moved. "Strategist," said one of them, "Liu Bei's army is indeed around 40,000 strong; that should be their entire force."

"Look, this is all of Liu Bei's people. What are you all hesitating for? Get off the train now!"

Upon hearing this, Cao Ren remained silent, glanced at the Xiahou brothers who were eager to fight, and then turned to look at Xun Yu.

"let's hit!"

Xun Yu knew that there were quite a few people who thought like the Xiahou brothers. Now that the fat meat was right in front of them, how could they, a pack of hungry wolves, resist?

Soon, led by the Xiahou brothers, an army of 100,000 charged toward Gu Rubing.

Gu Rubing saw this scene and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

The cavalry were the first to charge.

However, just as these cavalrymen were about to approach Gu Rubing's camp, the ground suddenly collapsed, and most of the cavalrymen fell into the pit.

The Xiahou brothers immediately stopped their horses.

The two men saw that there were sharp bamboo stalks in the deep pit, so the cavalrymen who fell in were all pierced by those bamboo stalks, and even the warhorses were the same.

In an instant, a chorus of screams echoed from the pit.

Their first reaction was that they had fallen into a trap.

But they found that there was only this pit around, and no other ambushes.

"Hmph, Liu Bei, you actually resorted to such despicable tactics. I really overestimated you."

The two men assumed that the pit had been dug hastily after Xiahou Dun left, so they didn't think much of it and led their cavalry to attack Gu Rubing from both sides.

However, at that moment, Gu Rubing waved his hand directly.

"Fire arrows!"

With Wei Yan's command.

A rain of arrows fell from the sky.

This resulted in significant losses for the Xiahou brothers' cavalry.

Meanwhile, Cao Ren was also rapidly approaching Gu Rubing.

Cao Ren and Xun Yu also saw the pit ahead.

However, based on the surrounding soil, the two judged that the pit was dug by Gu Rubing on the spot, and the surrounding soil still contained some moisture.

This reassured the two men even more; Gu Rubing knew he couldn't escape, so he simply stopped running and decided to fight them to the death.

The two immediately urged the main force to speed up, hoping to catch up with the cavalry as soon as possible.

However, at that moment, a rain of arrows fell from the earthen slope beside them.

This completely caught Cao Ren off guard.

"Shield formation, defend!"

Cao Ren immediately gave the order.

Immediately afterwards, the shield bearers protected Cao Ren and Xun Yu.

"Wait a minute, aren't Liu Bei's troops ahead? Then where did this rain of arrows come from?"

Cao Ren finally realized the importance of the troops.

"Could it be that Liu Bei really has reinforcements?"

Xun Yu peered through the gaps in the shield, but could only see that the rain of arrows was coming from behind the earthen slope. He had no idea how many of the enemy were there.

Xun Yu still wasn't sure whether he had fallen into a trap or not.

After several volleys of arrows, Gu Rubing had fired all his arrows.

At this moment, the Xiahou brothers also arrived in front of Gu Rubing.

"Liu Bei, prepare to die!"

Xiahou Dun swung his knife and slashed at Gu Rubing.

However, at that moment, the Yellow Dragon Sickle appeared in front of Gu Rubing and blocked Xiahou Dun.

"Kill them all!"

As soon as the words fell, the Ironclad Cavalry and their troops followed Zhang Liao and charged straight in.

Seeing that the battle had officially begun ahead and that the rain of arrows on the mud bricks had stopped, Cao Ren immediately ordered the entire army to charge.

However, the moment Cao Ren issued the order, a battle cry came directly from the mud bricks.

Immediately afterwards, the 30,000 soldiers who had been lying in ambush blocked Cao Ren's army.

Cao Ren swung his sword, killing a soldier who charged at him, and then looked at Xu Huang standing to the side.

"Where did these people come from?"

"I don't know either. What should we do now? Retreat?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Ren immediately ordered everyone to sound the retreat.

However, when the Xiahou brothers heard the noise and prepared to retreat, they discovered that it was already very difficult for the cavalry to withdraw.

Ahead lay Gu Rubing's 40,000-strong army, including a significant number of cavalry, and behind them was a large ditch. The only way to escape was through the narrow paths left on either side, but these paths required extreme caution, offering no way to speed up the horses.

Without the speed to charge, the cavalry had only one possibility: to be slaughtered.

"No, we can't leave with the cavalry. We have to retreat!"

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Dun looked unwillingly at the cavalry still fighting ahead. After hesitating for a moment, he turned around and shouted, "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, retreat!"

Now, we can only use 10,000 cavalry as cannon fodder to cover the escape of the most elite Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and the two of them.

When Cao Ren saw the ambush, he had no will to fight. In addition, he had been running for his life and had no intention of fighting. Even the soldiers around him did not make a move.

However, just as Cao Ren and his men withdrew from the encirclement, the roles of the two sides were reversed.

Thirty thousand soldiers chased after Cao Ren's eighty thousand troops.

Zhang Liao and his men quickly filled in the pit and then led their cavalry in pursuit.

Cao Ren ran for a while and saw that the pursuers were still following behind him, while many of his men were already too tired to run anymore.

Cao Ren then stood on a relatively high rock and carefully looked at the pursuing troops behind him. When he saw that the enemy only had 30,000 men, Cao Ren was so angry that he threw the knife in his hand to the ground.

"Stop running! Thirty thousand men chasing after eighty thousand of us? What are you all thinking? You're here to risk your lives, not to race! Everyone stop! Front line becomes back line! Wipe them out!"

Upon hearing that the enemy only had 30,000 men, the Xiahou brothers, who had just reached the front of the main force, gritted their teeth and led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry back to fight.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry truly lived up to their reputation as elite light cavalry; even after enduring countless battles and escapes, they still possessed formidable combat capabilities.

After the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry entered the ranks of 30,000 men, they immediately disrupted their formation.

At this moment, Cao Ren and Xu Huang also led their troops to charge over.

A large-scale melee ensued between the two sides.

Although Cao Ren had a large number of troops, all his soldiers were exhausted and had little strength left to even swing their swords.

Gu Rubing's 30,000 men, on the other hand, had been resting and recuperating for a long time, giving them a clear advantage in terms of physical strength.

While the two sides were locked in a stalemate, Zhang Liao finally arrived with his cavalry.

Upon seeing Zhang Liao's appearance, Cao Ren knew he had to retreat, and immediately sounded the retreat again! (End of Chapter)