Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 883: Defeated the Han Army!

As night fell, scouts from both sides engaged in a rare chase and fight along the outskirts of the camp.

The Han army's reaction seemed to be determined to wipe out all the Cao army scouts in the surrounding area, which only aroused Cao Xiu's suspicion.

Seeing that his own scouts had suffered heavy casualties, Cao Xiu simply sent out a thousand-man Leopard Cavalry to monitor the Han army's every move.

That night, it was the beginning of the Chou hour.

Just as Cao Xiu had fallen asleep, an urgent report from the Leopard Cavalry woke him up.

The Han army retreated!
Just as Cao Xiu had expected, the Han army retreated hastily under the cover of darkness, without even having time to capture their camp.

"In which direction will the Han army retreat?"

"To the southeast."

"Keep a close watch. If a small group of soldiers breaks away from the main Han army, we must keep a close eye on them. We cannot let the big fish escape." Cao Xiu's face was full of excitement.

Wei Yan and Pang Tong were both Li Ji's confidants. Once they could be captured successfully, not to mention their own extraordinary political value, more importantly, Li Ji would be able to learn a lot from them about the arrangements that Li Ji had made for the Northern Expedition.

Therefore, the majority of the retreating Han army must be kept under close watch, and the small groups of troops that secretly escaped were the fat meat that Cao Xiu was unwilling to let go.

Immediately, Cao Xiu sent another team of Leopard Cavalry into the camp abandoned by the Han army to further investigate the situation, and hurriedly summoned the generals in the city to discuss matters again.

When all the generals gathered, the intelligence about the Han army camp was also passed back to Cao Xiu.

There were quite a few flags and weapons left in the camp, and the traces of stoves counted were much fewer than normal. More importantly, a place suspected to be a place for slaughtering war horses was discovered.

All these signs prove the food and fodder situation of the Han army, especially the slaughter of horses for food, which would never be done unless they were on the verge of running out of food.

Suddenly, a group of Cao's generals including Cao Xiu, Li Qian and Li Zheng were greatly excited.

"General Cao, the opportunity is rare and will never come again. The Han army is running out of food and grass and is fleeing in panic. We must not let them go. We must quickly dispatch troops to pursue and kill them along the way, make contributions to the Wei Dynasty, and severely undermine the Han army's enthusiasm for the Northern Expedition."

"I only need 5,000 soldiers and horses to defeat the Han army..."

"We should use a great victory to intimidate Li Zikun and let him know the power of the Great Wei!"

Just as all the generals were vying to fight, Li Dian, with his frowning brows and silence, stood out among the crowd and was seen by Cao Xiu.

"Why does Mancheng look so sad?" Cao Xiu asked.

Li Dian hesitated a little, bowed, and replied, "General, this matter is going too smoothly, and I can't help but feel that there may be some trickery."

Upon hearing this, Cao Xiu couldn't help but show a bit of displeasure on his face and said sarcastically.

"Is Mancheng frightened by the enemy army, or is he just too timid?"

Having spoken, Li Dian did not back down and spoke frankly.

"The Han army has always been full of tricks. Even if they have run out of food, how could they leave behind all these traces? This is more like showing weakness and luring the snake out of its hole."

"In that case, if you were the commander of the Han army who was about to run out of food, what would you do?" Cao Xiu asked in return.

When Li Dian heard this, he opened his mouth to answer, but when the words came to his lips, he was stunned.

In order to retreat safely, the Han army has already used various means. If it were Li Dian, it would be difficult for him to think of any other methods.

Perhaps the only thing Li Dian could do better was to cover up the traces of food shortage in the camp.

But when food and grass were about to run out and people were in panic, it was already quite remarkable for the commander to ensure that there was no large-scale spontaneous collapse of the soldiers. Why would he require more details?

Li Dian did not speak again. Instead, Cao Xiu showed a bit of disappointment. Considering the personal relationship between Li Qian and the king, he did not continue to pursue the sarcasm, but instead comforted him.

"Mancheng, the art of war is to avoid empty talk, and you must not shrink back based on your intuition. You need more experience in the future." "Besides, I have considered the possibility that this is a conspiracy by the Han army, but the number of the Han army is probably only over 20,000, which is equal to our army's strength. There is no place to set up an ambush all the way to the southeast. What is there to worry about?"

"General, you are right." Li Dian bowed in response.

Cao Xiu nodded slightly, then spoke.

"Since Mancheng thinks the Han army is cheating, then Mancheng will lead 3,000 soldiers to stay in Linzi to defend the city and protect the rear..."

After a pause, Cao Xiu suddenly stood up, glanced at the generals and spoke loudly.

"All the remaining generals, follow me to fight and defeat the Han army!"

"Greatly defeated the Han army!!!"

The generals responded loudly and went down to select the troops for battle.

Just as the sky was getting light, Cao Xiu left behind a thousand elite soldiers and two thousand young and strong men to guard the city for Li Dian. The defenders in Linzi City came out in full force and headed straight to the southeast.

Moreover, there were Leopard Cavalry acting as scouts, keeping a close eye on the Han army at all times. The rather cautious Cao Xiu did not even urge the army to march fast, so as not to over-consume the army's physical strength.

On the contrary, Cao Xiu planned to continue chasing the Han army all the way, forcing the Han army's morale and physical strength to decline further...

The Han army seemed to be aware of the existence of pursuers, and they were chased along the way in a mess, leaving their weapons and armor behind, and they were driven forward madly.

The chase and escape lasted nearly four hours.

The huge and embarrassed Han army was finally caught up by Cao Xiu and blocked on the banks of the Zishui River, which had an open terrain.

The number of Han troops was about 20,000, while the number of Cao's troops was slightly larger, including more than 5,000 elite Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

The two armies maintained a certain confrontation, but the momentum of the two sides was very different.

Although Cao's army was quite tired after chasing for a whole day, it was much better than the extremely miserable state of the Han army.

At this moment, like a cat playing with mouse, Cao Xiu, who had driven the Han army all the way and blocked them on the banks of the Zishui River, slowly rode out from the center of the army and spoke with a disdainful look.

"If you surrender, you won't be killed! If you don't surrender, you will all be beheaded!"

"Pooh!"

Wei Yan showed up without showing any sign of weakness and responded from a distance.

"I am Wei Yan, the General of the Han Dynasty. Let alone you, a young boy, even if it is the fake king Cao Cao, what qualifications do you have to ask Wei Yan to surrender?"

"How brave!"

Cao Xiu looked slightly angry and shouted, "Since you won't surrender, you will be buried here. I will send your heads to Li Zikun, it won't make much difference."

Wei Yan sneered and asked back loudly.

"You little brat, don't you think you have a sure win?"

Cao Xiu was slightly startled, his eyes swept over the Han soldiers not far away, and then he sneered with disapproval.

"Oh? Are you going to imitate King Xiang and burn your boats to turn defeat into victory?"

As soon as these words were spoken, many of Cao's generals burst into laughter.

The prerequisite for burning their boats and crossing the river is to ensure that the soldiers have enough food and drink first.

But the Han army in front of them was so sleepy and hungry that they could hardly stand, and there was no possibility of burning their boats.

(End of this chapter)