Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 560: Go to Dongyi

On the east side of the battlefield, Yuan’s army camp.

When Yuan Shang retreated into the camp, he saw a group of bewildered Wuhuan knights outside the camp.

Li Fu beside him said: "My lord, the speed of the Wuhuan defeat was beyond our expectations. Tadun underestimated the enemy and should be killed by the historian Wengong."

"That's what I expected."

While Yuan Shang was speaking, he saw the guards at the camp suddenly shoot a hail of arrows, shooting back the Wuhuan knights who were trying to approach, as well as a group of Guanzhong knights who were pursuing them.

Then Yuan Shang looked back at the cavalry retreating back into the camp. The main force of the cavalry was still there, but the retreat was difficult to stop.

When the Wuhuan people launched a general attack, the morale of Yuan's knights was boosted.

As a result, many people saw the giant chariot rushing straight towards the Wuhuan people's attack wave, like a scythe waving, and the Wuhuan knights encountered along the way fell to the ground, forming a line of blood.

Then we saw the giant chariots chasing Tadun's central army. At the same time, more than 600 chariots of the Guanzhong soldiers were assembled and launched a charge against the Hebei knights.

Limited by horsepower and terrain, the impact of this round is not very fierce.

But the Hebei Knights had already lost their unified command in the melee, and could not find Jiao Chu's battle flag.

Many people thought about retreating and reorganizing before fighting again. After all, the terrain in the rear is higher, and after reorganizing, they can launch a more fierce charge.

This retreat could no longer be stopped. After most of the cavalry entered the camp, Yuan Shang led his troops to evacuate back to the camp in an orderly manner.

Just as he was considering whether to recruit the defeated Wuhuan soldiers, the guards around him suddenly gathered together and raised their shields.

Yuan Shang took a few steps back and soon heard a crisp collision sound and a groan of pain.

More guards approached with shields in hand. Yuan Shang lowered his head and got off the chariot. Li Fu led him to hide behind the shield formation. Li Fu pointed at a gap and said, "It's the enemy's chariot soldiers!"

Yuan Shang squinted one eye and looked through the gap in the shield, and saw a dozen chariots parked more than a hundred steps away. The heavy crossbows on the chariots had been fired, and two armored soldiers on the chariots were working together to wind the crossbows using a special lever and gear structure.

The winding action was extremely fast, and while he was observing, several more chariots arrived. This group of people discussed with each other and gave him instructions.

Soon a second round of heavy crossbow fire came, and the simple fence could hardly provide any effective cover.

Yuan Shang smelled the blood of the wounded guards around him, and Li Fu advised: "The black bandits are good at fortifications, and their crossbows are the strongest in the world. You should avoid their sharp edge, my lord."

"Withdraw from the camp temporarily."

Yuan Shang agreed, and another group of guards held shields and protected Yuan Shang as he retreated.

After retreating to a safe distance, Yuan Shang saw a dozen officers standing there waiting for him, so he asked, "The black bandits' chariots are strong, how can we break them?"

A lieutenant said, "No matter how strong their chariots are, they still need horses to pull them. From my point of view, we can gather soldiers who are good at throwing lassoes. As long as we can destroy the chariot in front, we won't have to worry about the chariots behind."

"This plan is feasible, do it immediately!"

Yuan Shang agreed and looked at the others: "Maybe we can fight again today?"

"The soldiers rest and recuperate, and when their strength is restored they will be able to fight again."

A Youzhou cavalry general said: "The enemy army is chasing and killing the fleeing Wuhuan and Zaohu soldiers. When the sun sets, they will be exhausted. Our army should attack with all their might!"

"Yes, never give up easily."

Someone immediately agreed that the main force of the cavalry was still there, and they all knew that there was no possibility of withdrawing troops to negotiate peace or ceasefire.

The army cannot be allowed to rest, nor can the soldiers in Guanzhong be allowed to recover.

With the efficiency of the Guanzhong soldiers in replenishing and reorganizing the prisoners, it is possible to have more than 20,000 servant soldiers overnight.

By tomorrow, this battle will be even more impossible to fight.

Seeing that everyone was eager to fight, Yuan Shang nodded and said, "In that case, let's fight again after sunset!"

As for the Wuhuan knights who were being chased and dispersed by the chariot soldiers outside the camp, they could only be left to their own devices.

At this moment, the Black Bear Chariot headed north and slowly appeared near Tian Yu's formation.

The cavalry led by Lu Bu had become a gray-black color bathed in blood, with blood, mud and dirt staining their clothes and armor. At this moment, they stood in front of the formation in a dejected manner.

The Fang Tian Ji in its hand was dragging on the ground, and in the other hand it was dragging Tadun's big-horned stag battle flag.

The Iron Cavalry slowly pressed towards the Youzhou rebel formation. Tian Yu tried to take deep breaths to stay calm. The entire Youzhou rebel infantry and cavalry gathered into a group, with wounded soldiers mixed in.

In the silent atmosphere, Guan Yu led his troops to move eastward from the northern end of Tian Yu's main camp, attempting to cut off the retreat route of the Youzhou rebels.

If they retreated now, it would be a huge collapse that was difficult to control. But if they took the initiative to fight, Tian Yu really couldn't command them.

We can only wait like this and wait for changes.

When Lu Bu arrived a hundred steps in front of Tian Yu's formation, he saw no warning arrows fired by the Youzhou rebels, so he continued to advance slowly.

Until they reached a distance of fifty steps, the Youzhou infantry and cavalry, even though they had bows and crossbows, just waited and did not fire.

Under the control of the black bear, Lu Bu continued to advance slowly. Any charge or acceleration would trigger a stress response from the Youzhou rebels.

Capturing prisoners is just too tiring.

In this way, he slowly controlled Lu Bu to arrive at a dozen steps in front of the formation. Lu Bu raised the battle flag of Tadun that had been dragged for several miles and showed it to the Youzhou rebels.

"The Hebei army still has strength, which is the key to our army's survival."

Tian Yu said to the military leaders around him: "Now that things have come to this, don't let your men die in vain. Let's change horses and flee to Liaodong overnight, there is still a glimmer of hope. If the war continues, every household will be left without men, wives and daughters will remarry, and children and grandchildren will regard the enemy as their father."

"Gongsun Kang is far inferior to his father. If he is not unwilling to accept the throne, what else can he do?"

"Then we can go to the Dongyi countries. The world is vast, and as long as we can be useful, we won't have to worry about having no place to live."

Tian Yu said calmly: "Don't hesitate. Even if the black thieves are exhausted, one strike will kill all of our troops."

"Just as you wish, sir."

A general took off his helmet and immediately began to remove his armor, and the people around him immediately followed suit.

If you want to escape, you must discard all the burdens.

Tian Yu was no exception. With the help of several personal soldiers, he quickly took off his heavy armor.

After removing the weight, I suddenly felt refreshed.

The surrounding officers and soldiers gathered around to watch. Most of them were the officers' fellow villagers, relatives, or servants. Those with a little status in the army began to take off their armor.

Ordinary people, at this moment, mostly watch silently, waiting for fate to decide.

"Grand Sima's order! Do not kill the surrendered soldiers! Treat both the lightly and seriously wounded!"

A knight approached the front of the battle and began shouting to the dense crowd in front of him in the Jixian accent.

Seeing that he was not attacked, more knights rode closer on horseback, circled the Youzhou rebel formation and shouted loudly, conveying the message of surrender.

But the Youzhou rebels were still waiting for Tian Yu's decision, and Tian Yu was also waiting.

He had taken off his armor and changed into coarse autumn clothes. His son Tian Pengzu came quickly and said, "Father, everything has been piled up."

"Then light it."

Tian Yu gave instructions, walked quickly to his horse, raised his hand to touch the horse's mane, climbed onto the horse, and picked up the scarf to cover his mouth and nose, leaving only his eyes exposed.

Soon, Tian Pengzu set the haystack on fire, and the piled up letters, military books and various files were immediately engulfed in flames.

Tian Pengzu also quickly mounted his horse. Tian Yu raised his hand and waved towards the northeast. Thousands of riders around him ignored the formation and order, and drove their horses eastward in unison, speeding up one after another.

On the chariot, Black Bear watched the flames burn and rise.

He said to Gao Jun and Wei Kang who were watching from the sidelines: "The Youzhou people were able to unite in such a way even when they were defeated and in danger. They should not be underestimated. Write this down. From today on, those who join our army and are native to Youzhou within the past 20 years will only have the rank of captain."

Wei Kang and Gao Jun looked at each other. Gao Jun didn't feel anything, but thought it was very reasonable.

Wei Kang swallowed his saliva and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "Yes."

The military rank of captain is the highest position one can hold in the army, that is, deputy battalion commander; if transferred to the local level, the rank is three hundred stones.

Wei Kang felt that this matter was very important, so he immediately took out his notebook and wrote it down on the spot.

At the same time, groups of Youzhou rebels broke out of the battle lines, abandoned their weapons, and began to surrender.

But they were soon disbanded and reorganized into teams of 100 men according to their physical fitness. They began to elect hundred-man supervisors, team officers, and squad leaders.

At this time, Guan Yu stopped his troops and rode his horse to meet the black bear.

Seeing the scene of the Guanzhong soldiers reorganizing the surrendered troops again, Guan Yu couldn't help but tremble with fear.

He dared to conclude that Black Bear would dare to distribute weapons to the reorganized surrendered troops and drive them into battle.

(End of this chapter)