I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1045 Each Fights Their Own Way
Meanwhile, the Han army fought and retreated. Although the Parthian army wanted to pursue, the Han army's arrows rained down heavily. The griffin's wild instincts made it cherish its feathers and unwilling to risk a pursuit. So, after a short chase, seeing that the Han army's formation remained intact, the Parthian army also sounded the retreat.
Post-battle inventory revealed that the Han army had lost nearly 1,500 cavalrymen, making it the largest casualty incident since the start of the western expedition.

Although the Parthian army also paid a heavy price, it still made Ma Chao feel extremely ashamed and indignant.

"That beast is incredibly strong and impervious to swords and spears; our army simply cannot do anything to it!"

"If it weren't for General Zilong's intervention, I would probably be in grave danger today."

"It's just that so many of my brothers lost their lives at the hands of that beast while trying to save me!"

Ma Chao slammed his fist on the table, tears welling in his eyes, his voice choked with emotion.

Zhao Yun patted him on the shoulder and said in a deep voice, "Mengqi, there's no need to blame yourself. That griffin was indeed beyond human strength to defeat. The General had already warned us; we underestimated it."

Yan Xing frowned in thought: "That beast is strong, but it is not without weaknesses. When the arrows hit its wings today, it clearly felt pain and retreated. If we can concentrate our firepower on its eyes and wing joints, we might have a chance of winning."

"The problem is it's too fast and can even take to the air to dodge," Zhao Yun shook his head. "Ordinary arrows are hard to hit vital points with, unless..."

"Unless what?" Ma Chao asked eagerly.

Zhao Yun's gaze was firm: "Unless the General himself takes action."

"How is this possible?!"

Ma Chao panicked:

"The general is far away in India. If we send a message by carrier pigeon and he rushes over, it will probably be at least a month later."

"Are we really going to let this beast hold our nearly 30,000 troops here?"

Zhao Yun said in a deep voice, "Mengqi, don't be anxious. Although the General is far away, he must have a brilliant plan. We might as well hold the camp first, prepare more rockets and crossbows, and when the griffin comes again, we can attack it with fire. Beasts are naturally afraid of fire, so it may work."

Yan Xing nodded in agreement: "Zilong is absolutely right. In addition, we can dig trenches and set traps to restrict the beast's movements."

"No, no, this is too passive!"

Ma Chao vetoed the statement:
"If we don't find a way to deal with this flying, hairy beast, it will surely cause chaos and unrest for our army."

"Tomorrow, I will send troops to fight it again. I refuse to believe that I cannot defeat it!"

Zhao Yun and Yan Xing exchanged a glance, both seeing the worry in each other's eyes. But Ma Chao was stubborn, and they knew they couldn't persuade him, so they could only secretly prepare to provide backup.

The following morning, Ma Chao personally led 5,000 elite troops out of the camp and deployed them on the plain. He specially equipped himself with a new spear made of fine steel and selected 100 sharpshooters from the army to deal with the griffin.

The Parthian king seemed to have anticipated this, and quickly led his army to meet the enemy. The two armies faced each other, and the atmosphere was so tense it was almost frozen.

"Han generals dare to come and die?" the Parthian king taunted from the front lines. "Today, I will make sure you never return!"

Ma Chao sneered, "Enough with the nonsense, bring it on!"

Without further ado, the Parthian king waved his hand and said, "Griffin, go!"

The griffin let out a long cry and flapped its wings, flying towards the Han army formation. Ma Chao was prepared and immediately ordered, "Fire!"

A hundred archers drew their bows simultaneously, raining down arrows. However, the griffin's feathers were as hard as iron armor, and the arrows bounced off one by one. Only a few arrows struck its wings, but none could cause fatal damage.

"Damn it!" Ma Chao gritted his teeth and personally spurred his horse forward to meet them. "Beast, take this!"

His newly acquired fine iron spear gleamed coldly, aiming straight for the griffin's eyes. The beast nimbly dodged it, then swung its claw at Ma Chao.

"clang!"

Ma Chao was prepared and parried with his spear.

This time, it's finally different from before.

The griffin's power was restricted by the archer's harassment. Ma Chao took the opportunity to block and deflect the force. Although his arms went numb again from the impact, his steel spear did not bend this time, and he barely withstood the blow.

However, he did not expect that this would enrage the attacker. The griffin flapped its giant wings, creating a gale that swept away the incoming arrows.

The griffin soared into the air, then swooped down with lightning speed, its sharp claws aimed straight for Ma Chao's head!

"General, be careful!" the guards exclaimed.

In a moment of quick thinking, Ma Chao yanked the reins, and his warhorse reared up. The griffin's claws grazed Ma Chao's helmet, leaving three deep claw marks on the fine iron helmet.

"That was close!" Ma Chao broke out in a cold sweat, knowing that continuing the fight would likely be disastrous, and had no choice but to order a retreat.

The griffin wasn't about to let him go and gave chase. Just as Ma Chao was about to be in trouble, suddenly—

"boom!"

A deafening explosion rang out beside the griffin, and flames and thick smoke instantly engulfed its massive body.

"Roar—!" The griffin roared in pain as it burst out of the smoke, a patch of its golden feathers charred.

Ma Chao looked back and saw Yan Xing leading a troop of cavalry, carrying several smoking pottery jars.

"Yanming?!" Ma Chao was both surprised and delighted.

Yan Xing shouted, "Meng Qi, run! This beast is afraid of fire!" It turned out that Yan Xing had made preparations in advance and had worked through the night to make a batch of simple gunpowder canisters, which saved Ma Chao's life at the critical moment.

The griffin was thoroughly enraged and turned to pounce on Yan Xing. Yan Xing remained calm and ordered his soldiers to take turns throwing gunpowder canisters.

"Boom boom boom!"

The successive explosions, though failing to seriously injure the griffin, made it wary and dared not approach too closely. Ma Chao and Yan Xing took the opportunity to lead their troops back to the main camp.

After this battle, Ma Chao finally realized the reality: "This beast is indeed beyond human strength to defeat. It seems that we can only ask the General to take action."

Zhao Yun nodded: "I have already sent someone on horseback to Fulousha to deliver the news. I expect the General will arrive soon."

Yan Xing sighed, "Until then, we can only hold our camp and avoid a direct confrontation with that beast."

The three men discussed and decided to strengthen the camp's defenses immediately, building deep trenches and high walls, and preparing for battle.

That night, the Han army camp was brightly lit, and the soldiers dug trenches and set traps throughout the night. Zhao Yun personally supervised the work, filling the outer perimeter of the camp with sharp wooden stakes and tripwires. Yan Xing organized archers to quickly manufacture fire arrows and built several arrow towers on high ground within the camp to strengthen defenses.

However, King Anxi, who was already familiar with the abilities of the sacred beasts, did not let this opportunity pass.
The next morning, a scout urgently reported: "General! The Parthian army has come out in full force and is approaching our army!"

Upon hearing this, Ma Chao slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "That Vologasi dares to launch an attack! Order the entire army to prepare for battle!"

Zhao Yun frowned deeply: "Something's not right. The King of Parthia just won yesterday and should be resting. For the entire army to attack at this time, there must be something fishy going on."

Sure enough, a scout soon reported: "General, there is no sign of griffins in the enemy ranks!"

"What?" Ma Chao was taken aback. "Where did that beast go?"

Just then, a sharp cry suddenly came from the distant horizon. Everyone looked up and saw the griffin swooping down from the clouds, heading straight for the rear camp of the Han army!
"Oh no!" Zhao Yun exclaimed in alarm, "It has circled around to our rear!"

It turned out that Vologasis V had anticipated that the Han army would strengthen its frontal defenses, so he ordered the griffins to take a detour and launch a surprise attack. At this time, the rear camp was mostly filled with supplies and provisions, and its defenses were weak. The griffins moved as if they were in an empty field; wherever their talons passed, tents were torn apart, supply wagons were overturned, and dozens of soldiers died tragically under their claws.

"Quickly! Send the rear guard back to reinforce!" Ma Chao ordered urgently.

However, it was too late. After wreaking havoc in the rear camp, the griffins took flight again. At the same time, the Parthian army had pressed in front of the camp, war drums thundering and battle cries rising everywhere.

"Hold on! Don't retreat!" Ma Chaosheng shouted hoarsely.

However, morale was low, with a large army pressing in from the front and griffins ravaging from behind, causing the Han army's formation to gradually fall apart.

In the end, it was thanks to their preparations the night before that they were able to barely force the enemy back after suffering heavy casualties.

But for several days afterward, the Parthian army continued to press forward relentlessly.

The terrifying power of the griffins left Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, and others helpless. The Parthian army seized the opportunity to press forward step by step, forcing the Han army to retreat to the banks of the Amu Darya River, where they barely managed to hold their ground thanks to the natural barrier of the river.

"If this continues, we'll be forced back to Khwarezm sooner or later!" Yan Xing slammed his fist on the table, his face grim.

Ma Chao gritted his teeth and said, "That beast is too cunning. He always targets our weak points, making it impossible to defend against!"

Zhao Yun pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "The best course of action now is to temporarily avoid the enemy's advance, retreat to Kara City on the north bank, and wait for the General's reinforcements."

“But if we retreat, Khwarazm’s territory in Henan will be handed over to them for nothing!” Ma Chao said unwillingly.

“If we don’t retreat, we will be wiped out.” Yan Xing shook his head. “You saw it yourself. That griffin is beyond human strength. Apart from the Great General, I can’t think of any way to deal with it.”

Ultimately, the three reached a consensus and decided to withdraw their troops overnight, abandoning the defenses on the south bank of the Amu Darya River and returning almost immediately to the starting point of the offensive.
When faced with the retreat of the Han army, Vologasis V naturally burst into wild laughter.

Unfortunately, the Han army left decisively, and he didn't have much time to reap the rewards of the battle. He only had the griffins chase him along the way for a while.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter!"

"Let them run."

"Let's go and take back Khwarezm first."

"I'll show those fence-sitters who really owns this place!"

In the following days, the Parthian army swept across the south bank of the Amu Darya River, and the Khwarazmian cities that had originally surrendered to the Han Dynasty changed their flags overnight.

But this time, Vologasis V did not let them off easily.

As if to establish his authority, he ordered the massacre of Ogian, the capital of Khwarazm.

This future glorious capital of the Khwarazmian Empire was thus prematurely annihilated in the flames of war before it could even fully develop.

Unsatisfied, the Parthian king quickly ordered his entire army to cross the river after the massacre, preparing to further pursue the remnants of the Han army and sweep eastward from the north, returning to the city of Gaofu with the central army.

However, at that moment, a scout who rushed over brought him bad news.

General Bahram, on whom he had placed high hopes, suffered a major setback.

Su Yao made his move in the middle lane.

(End of this chapter)