Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 894: The Power of the Formation Sect
The two sides confronted each other for a long time, and neither took the first move.

Liu He thought that his soldiers were few in number, and that some of them were bandits and surrendered soldiers, so their fighting capacity was naturally not comparable. He wanted to delay until Gao Shun and Xu Huang arrived, so that he would have every chance of victory.

Cao Cao, on the other hand, looked hesitant as he looked at the army behind Liu He, whose military appearance was in strict order, and felt a little surprised.

He lowered his head and muttered to Cheng Yu and other advisers around him: "Where did Liu He bring these tens of thousands of strong troops? When the bloody battle outside the city was so thrilling, he only had a few thousand people around him. Could there be a trick?"

Xi Zhong said, "He was rescued that day by someone who secretly helped him. I think maybe he had made arrangements in advance and hid a group of soldiers somewhere."

Cao Cao's brows were downcast, full of suspicion: "Liu He has always been cunning and scheming. I am afraid he has some new plan. Now I don't know whether I should attack. Please help me with the plan."

Several people looked at each other, not knowing what to choose for a moment.

Jia Xu raised his somewhat lazy eyebrows, looked across, and then said: "It's just a trick to delay time and wait for reinforcements."

Cao Cao's eyes were startled, and then he suddenly laughed: "Haha... Wenhe's words are exactly what I want. Our army is several times larger than the enemy's. What is there to fear?"

The Qingguang Sword pointed forward: "Kill them!"

"I finally saw through it." Liu He's tone was a little low, but Zhu Ye was extremely excited.

"Come on, watch me kill the enemy for you." Zhu Ye roared, and without saying a word, he led the Thunder God Cavalry to meet the enemy head-on.

Liu He looked at Xu Shu and said, "Everything depends on Yuan Zhi."

Xu Shu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, you are too kind. I will do my best."

As he was speaking, he and Liu He rode their horses back to a small mound not far away. After they stopped, Xu Shu took out several command flags from his arms.

Cao Cao was somewhat surprised: "Huh? Who is this person? I have never seen him before. What does he want to do?"

Cheng Yu and the others looked over, but shook their heads: "We don't know this person."

While they were still confused, Xu Shu picked out a black flag and waved it three times in the direction of Cao's army.

Zhang He was in high spirits: "Soldiers, follow me and charge forward."

He spurred his warhorse and led hundreds of cavalrymen, following closely behind Zhu Ye's Thunder God cavalry. Those Cao army soldiers who had circled behind the Thunder God and were preparing to surround him were caught off guard by the sudden arrival of the cavalry before they could even launch an attack.

"Swish..." Xu Shu waved a yellow flag again, and Zhang He's deputy general commanded the thousands of halberd-wielding infantrymen, and in a flash, they divided into three phalanxes and marched in neat steps, following Zhang He dozens of steps behind.

"Kill...kill...kill..."

Thousands of halberd soldiers had been trained by Zhang He for many years and were well-equipped, only half as good as the Golden Sword Camp. Although Cao's army had many soldiers, they were killed by Zhu Ye and then led by Zhang He himself. Every time Cao's army launched an offensive, only more than half of them were able to rush to the front of the halberd soldiers.

Under such circumstances, the soldiers with halberds were full of murderous intent. Only a few thousand of them actually had the momentum to turn defense into offense, and they fought back and forth with the Cao army that was rushing over.

Cao Cao stroked his beard and sneered, "Although the enemy is brave, they are outnumbered. What can they do to us? Pass the order down, encircle the enemy on both wings, and then annihilate them in one fell swoop after forming a siege."

As soon as the military order was given, tens of thousands of Cao's troops dispersed to both sides, and then gradually gathered into two teams, attacking Zhu Ye and others from the left and right sides respectively.

Xu Shu was not in a hurry and took out another red flag.

As the flag was waved, Pei Yuanshao and Zhou Cang, who had been staying at the back, shouted fiercely as if they had waited for some rare treasure.

"Ha! It's finally our turn to make a contribution. Charge forward... The two of them led several thousand men respectively, splitting up to the left and right, like two human walls, protecting the two wings of the army.

Most of these soldiers were mountain bandits and some surrendered soldiers from Pingyu City. Zhang He deliberately eliminated the soldiers from Yuzhou from the surrendered soldiers. The remaining thousands of people were mostly from Yanzhou and Jizhou. They had a weak sense of belonging to the pseudo-court established by Cao Cao.

Zhang He said that as long as they surrendered sincerely and killed enemies for the court, the court would let them return home and grant them good farmland and houses. Those who made contributions would be rewarded generously. After receiving such a promise, these soldiers were all excited, and now they started to kill these soldiers who were in the same camp with them not long ago, and they were the most brutal.

They seized the armory in Pingyu City that originally belonged to Cao's army and rearmed themselves. Now, some of the two teams were holding rattan shields, while others were holding spears, broadswords and other weapons. They were fighting on both wings, helping Zhu Ye, Zhang He and others to resist the offensive of Cao's army on both sides.

"System prompt: Xu Shu has triggered his special skill 'Zhen Zong', his command and intelligence are increased by 3 points each, and the military strength of all his generals is increased by 1 point."

"Affected by his special skills, Xu Shu's overall command has reached 56 points, and his overall intelligence has reached 97 points. Zhang He's overall force has reached..."

Cao Cao was surprised to see that he had already used 50,000 of his 80,000-strong army but not only was there no sign of victory, but was instead being well defended by the enemy.

"This... could this be the cone formation created by Sun Bin?"

Cheng Yu frowned, "Well, there are indeed many similarities, but there are also many changes and variations. The cone formation only has one main force charging, and the large force behind it focuses on rotation, saving energy, and guarding the two wings. But now the enemy has two main forces, Zhu Ye and Zhang He, charging. Although these two cavalry teams are very small in number, they are extremely fierce and are designed to deal with our army."

"I never knew that Liu He had such an attainment in formation. Could it be..."

Cao Cao looked up at the slope and asked: "Could it be the work of the scholar beside him?"

Cheng Yu cupped his hands and said, "Although the cone formation is strong, it is not difficult to break it. Its strongest point is also its weakest point. Only one fierce general can attack from the front where Zhu Ye and Zhang He are. Once these two are broken, the enemy army will be defeated. Otherwise, even if the army can win, it will suffer heavy losses and it will be difficult to deal with Gao Shun and Xu Huang. But..."

He looked up at Cao Cao, and although he didn't say the rest of the words, everyone understood what he meant.

Although there were many brave generals in Cao's army, none of them could be a match for Zhu Ye. Moreover, although Xiahou Dun and others had already joined the main army, their injuries had not yet healed. That day, they were provoked by Liu He outside Pingyu City, and their old injuries relapsed. Naturally, Cao Cao did not take them into battle.

Therefore, if you want to find a powerful general to attack head-on at this time, it is like a cook without rice.

Cao Cao looked at the battle situation and slowly drew out his Qingguang sword. "In this case, I will personally lead the remaining troops and charge forward. This will surely boost the morale of the army and make everyone willing to fight. With this army of 30,000, even if there are ten Zhu Ye, what is there to fear?"

After saying this, he pretended to rush out. Cheng Yu and others' faces changed drastically and they hurriedly tried to stop him.

"My lord, you must not do that."

"Zhu Ye's courage is unrivaled in the world. If the lord takes the risk himself and is hunted down by him, the consequences will be disastrous."

Cao Cao shook them off and said, "If not, how can we defeat the enemy? Please stop trying to persuade us."

"My lord, wait a minute." Xi Zhong pointed to the slope where Liu He was not far away.

"My lord, the enemy still has a weakness."

Cao Cao immediately understood: "Zhi Cai is talking about... attacking Liu He and his military advisor?"

"That's right. Although our army is not as strong as the enemy, we have more soldiers. We only need to divide our troops to attack Liu He, Zhu Ye and others. How can we not rescue them? When they come back to rescue us, our formation will collapse without a fight. Then we can take advantage of the situation to surround them. How can we not win?"

"Good!" Cao Cao praised, "I will not hesitate any longer. Follow me, everyone, to capture and kill Liu He."

He brandished the Qinggang sword, charged forward, bypassed the battlefield, and went straight to Liu He and Xu Shu.

(End of this chapter)