Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"I?!"

Chen Lan was confused at first, then pointed a finger at herself, thinking that she had heard it wrong, and opened her mouth again to confirm with Ji Ling.

Ji Ling asked back. "If it's not you, could it be me?"

As the commander-in-chief of the three armies, and at a critical moment of life and death, Ji Ling understood that if he encountered any accident, the Yuan army, whose morale was already close to collapse, would disintegrate on the spot.

If he had a choice, Ji Ling would not be willing to hand over the important task of covering the retreat to Chen Lan.

However, the situation was critical. Yuan's army was already in chaos and was scrambling to escape. The only person who could give command to Ji Ling was Chen Lan.

"That's Zhang Fei..."

Chen Lan spoke with a pale face.

How dangerous is it to be the last one to leave?
Furthermore, Chen Lan had no confidence in being able to face a fierce man like Zhang Fei.

Ji Ling didn't care about Chen Lan's emotions and shouted angrily.

"You want to disobey military orders?"

"I dare not!" Chen Lan replied quickly.

"Then act quickly. If you can lead the army to withdraw safely to Yuzhou, you will be the first to achieve the credit."

Ji Ling hastily made some promises to Chen Lan, and then kept shouting and commanding the army to retreat to the north.

Now that Yuan's army is being attacked from both sides, its morale is almost broken and it has no ability to fight anymore. If they flee in all directions, they will only disintegrate on the spot. If Ji Ling guides Yuan's army to retreat in one direction, he still has hope of reorganizing the army.

For a moment, large numbers of Yuan's troops scrambled to retreat to the north, fearing that if they ran a little slower, they would have to take the knife for their comrades.

Among them, only Chen Lan had a bitter look on her face. She wanted to escape, but she did not dare to disobey Ji Ling's military orders.

The whole family is still under Yuan Shu's nose. If Chen Lan openly disobeys military orders at this moment, the news will get back to Yuan Shu's ears and the whole family will be executed.

Chen Lan couldn't escape, nor did she dare to escape.

However, in the midst of the chaos, Chen Lan tried his best to organize his confidants to gather troops, but he was only able to gather two thousand troops and set up a defensive formation to prepare to cover the retreat of Yuan's army.

At this moment, Chen Lan had already made up her mind.

We have to stop it, but we definitely can't stop it.

The only plan now is to try your best to resist for a while, and then there is no need to pretend to be defeated, but to find an opportunity to protect yourself and escape before the rearguard troops are defeated.

As Yuan's troops fled northward, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan were undoubtedly chasing them all the way, further undermining Yuan's army's morale and killing their available troops.

The two thousand rearguard troops led by Chen Lan stood in front of Zhang Fei and Wei Yan, shouting continuously.

"Don't move rashly, maintain your position and stop the enemy army."

"How dare you stop me?"

Zhang Fei shouted softly and charged towards Chen Lan who was standing at the rear of the army and kept talking.

In order to stop Zhang Fei and Wei Yan, the two thousand troops deployed a long defensive formation on the plain, but Chen Lan apparently forgot how "thick" the military formation would be.

Or perhaps Chen Lan had intended to just put on an act of bravery, casually engage in a fight with the pursuers, and then immediately withdraw.

However, what Chen Lan never expected was that the formation was so thin that it could be broken with just one poke.

Instead of rushing over to chase him, Zhang Fei came straight towards him.

By the time Chen Lan noticed Zhang Fei in the dim night, Zhang Fei had already stepped into the formation.

That "thin" defensive formation could not withstand the impact of the cavalry, and Zhang Fei was invincible wherever he went.

This made Chen Lan feel cold in his heart. He did not dare to hesitate and turned his horse around to retreat.

However, no matter how fast Chen Lan retreated, how could she match the speed of the Snow-Treading Black Horse at such a distance? When Chen Lan turned her head, she saw that Zhang Fei, the murderer, was already close behind her.

Chen Lan's face turned pale and she subconsciously begged for mercy.

“No, wait a minute…”

However, before Chen Lan could finish his words, the Zhang Fei's Snake Spear pierced through his chest, lifted Chen Lan up into the air, and then threw him to the ground.

"As expected... I am not a match for you..."

On her deathbed, Chen Lan couldn't help but regret that she had been taking chances and should have just surrendered.

Chen Lan was in such a state. The 2,000 soldiers who were hastily organized to cover the rear were also scattered in an instant.

Zhang Fei and Wei Yan, one in front and one behind, continued to chase in the direction of Yuan's army.

The Yuan army soldiers who fell behind kept screaming, which made the Yuan army soldiers in the front more and more panicked. In order to speed up, they kept throwing away the weights on their bodies.

Helmets, armor, weapons...

While throwing away weapons and armor may be embarrassing, it is of great help to the fleeing party.

Deserters can throw away their weapons and armor to reduce their load, but pursuers cannot do the same.

As the pursuit went on like this, it was natural that the pursuers would gradually lose sight of the fleeing party.

However, Ji Ling watched as the army that his lord had finally rebuilt after exhausting the Yuan family's resources was defeated, with some dying and some escaping, and the large amount of armor and weapons had to be thrown to the ground.

Ji Ling couldn't stop feeling the pain in his heart, but there was nothing he could do.

Finally, countless Yuan troops in the rear were chased and killed, which entangled Zhang Fei and Wei Yan, the pursuers, and the situation in the rear gradually calmed down.

At this moment in the darkness, Ji Ling couldn't even reorganize the army and count the troops. He only knew that Yuan's army must have suffered heavy losses.

"Finally, we got rid of the pursuers..."

"How can I face my lord again if I lead such a defeated army back to Yuzhou?"

Ji Ling's face was filled with shame as he murmured to himself. He was so confused that he didn't know how to report to Yuan Shu.

This army was also Yuan Shu's wealth and the basis for his preparation to march north to Yanzhou.

But after this battle, even if Ji Ling was hoping for a lucky break, he knew that the number of casualties was probably no less than 30,000.

Immediately, Ji Ling reacted suddenly and realized that something was wrong.

It would have been fine if Li Ji and Zhang Fei led their troops to rescue Pengcheng one after another, as this was something that was expected.

But the problem was that the rear camp was taken away quietly, and even ambushes were set up on the way back to Xiao County.

Counting these four forces, there are probably no less than 40,000 or 50,000 troops.

But didn’t Cao Cao claim before that he was in a fierce battle with Liu Bei in Donghai County?
How could Liu Bei quietly withdraw 40,000 to 50,000 troops to march south to Pengcheng for assistance, and even calmly make various arrangements?

wrong!

Ji Ling just reacted at this time, but there was no time to think about it.

There was another burst of drum sounds in front of Yuan's army, which made the fleeing Yuan army feel numb.

"Chen Dao has been waiting here for a long time on the orders of the Marquis!"

With Chen Dao's loud shout, the entire Yuan army was in chaos, and their first reaction was to turn around and flee.

Seeing this, Ji Ling was also horrified and guided loudly.

"Go west! Retreat west! Retreat towards Yuzhou!" (End of this chapter)