Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 983: Winning without Killing
While Wen Pin and others were in a state of confusion, the Cao army captives who were tied up and escorted by Zhang Yong and others suddenly became unhappy.

"What are you waiting for? Why don't you come and rescue us?"

"What a bunch of losers! Zhang Yong was just bluffing. You were frightened so easily. You are so incompetent!"

"The barbarians of Jingchu are indeed useless and unreliable."

"Why are you still standing there? Come over here and rescue us, and you can atone for your sins."

"Yes, if not, sooner or later, when we return to serve the lord, we will expose your ugly behavior to the public."

Most of these Cao army soldiers were from Yanzhou and Yuzhou. They were considered the elite of Cao's army, which is why they were able to stay under Xiahou Yuan's command.

After being mocked and ridiculed by them, Wen Pin and many other soldiers were angry, anxious and ashamed.

"These people are really hateful. Even though they are captured, they still dare to look down on us like this."

"They don't even think about who they are. Now they have to rely on us to save them, yet they dare to be so arrogant."

"Bah, you are nothing."

"General, Zhang Yong might have an ambush anyway. I think we should just not rescue him, so that we don't have to suffer every day after he rescues us."

Many generals showed their indignation and gave advice to Wen Pin.

Although Wen Pin was also very angry, he shook his head and denied the suggestion.

"Although these people are annoying, we have to rescue them because we cannot disobey military orders."

"But……"

Many soldiers were filled with righteous indignation and seemed extremely reluctant.

Wen Pin naturally felt the anger of the crowd, but as a general, he knew clearly the consequences of disobeying military orders.

He looked around and found that no Han army reinforcements had appeared: "It seems that Zhang Yong was bluffing."

At this moment, the Cao army captives started clamoring again.

"Jing barbarians, what are you still doing standing there in a daze?"

"Come here quickly and kill them!"

"You cowardly bandit, I will teach you a lesson when we get back to the camp."

This group of people made rude remarks repeatedly, which made the already angry soldiers of Jingzhou even more furious.

"You thieves, you are already prisoners of others, how dare you be so arrogant?"

"No, we won't save you. Let's see what you can do to me."

"But... if you disobey military orders, the consequences will be..."

"I won't go then. General Cai Mao is from Jingzhou. Can he turn his back on us? I won't save him."

In the blink of an eye, the anger of these Jingzhou soldiers was transferred from the Han army to the Cao army prisoners. Many of them even felt friendly towards the Han army soldiers and thought that it would be best if they could abuse these prisoners as much as possible, which would make them feel better.

Seeing such a huge conflict in the army, Wen Pin hurriedly stopped everyone from talking.

"Anyone who dares to speak nonsense again will be subject to military law! Charge forward and kill them all..."

Before he finished his military order, he suddenly heard another horn sound from the opposite side.

"Come again?" Wen Pin instinctively thought that the other party was bluffing again. However, before he could react, thousands of Han soldiers who had already landed suddenly rushed towards them.

"What?" These Jingxiang soldiers were still immersed in their anger towards the Cao army captives. They had just felt a little sympathetic towards the Han army, but they were suddenly attacked like this, which made them a little confused for a moment. The front of the two sides was a team of cavalry. They moved swiftly and rushed to the front before the Cao army could react.

"Kill it..."

Thousands of cavalrymen penetrated into the enemy camp like a sharp arrow.

As a result, Cao's army suddenly fell into chaos.

"Ah... help..."

“Pfft…I…I…”

“Run away…”

When Cao's army was about to flee in all directions, they saw a team of Golden Sword Camp, which attacked from the side like a gust of wind.

In the blink of an eye, the sound of "crack...crack..." was heard, echoing in all directions, making people feel weak all over and get goose bumps all over their bodies.

At this sound, the soldiers of Cao's army seemed to be no different from chickens, ducks, melons and fruits. Wherever the golden light flashed, their bodies were torn apart and their limbs were cut off.

"Don't panic... don't panic..."

Wen Pin and Su Fei were extremely anxious and kept shouting, trying to restore the demoralizing morale, but it was of no avail.

Zhang Yong looked at the fighting on both sides of the river bank and waved his hand, signaling the fleet to continue moving forward.

Dozens of boats and bamboo rafts soon came to the shore. Zhang Yong slowly mounted his warhorse and shouted to the overwhelmed Wen Pin: "General Wen Pin, I will not kill you this time. I will let you go back and tell Cai Mao that he underestimated me by using such a clumsy trick to deal with me."

After he finished speaking, the messenger beside him blew another horn, and the Han troops on both sides of the river retreated instantly and lined up in neat rows. During this short period of time, thousands of Cao's soldiers' corpses appeared on the ground.

Wen Pin watched all this, feeling angry and ashamed, but he was still somewhat unwilling to accept it.

"How did you know that our army was ambushed?"

Zhang Yong smiled when he heard this: "How difficult is that? Since you are sending troops to attack Shangcai County, why would you leave so many boats and rafts at this ferry?"

Wen Pin was stunned, then suddenly realized: "As expected of Zhang Yong, his reputation is well-deserved. I am convinced of my defeat. It is a pity that I am so proud of my experience in many battles, but I forgot the simple principle of "striving hard at the first blow, then weakening, and finally exhausting everything". I stopped the army midway, which is a taboo in military strategy. But next time we fight again, I will definitely avenge today's humiliation."

“Hahaha…” Zhang Yong laughed, “Not to mention you, even if Cao Cao himself came, why would I be afraid? General, go back and learn from today’s lesson. I look forward to fighting with you next time.”

When Wen Ping heard this, a look of shame and anger appeared on his face again.

"Go!" He said the word almost with gritted teeth, then patted his mount, turned around and left.

Chen Lie rode forward and asked in confusion, "General, why are you letting them go?"

Zhang Yong raised his head and saw a dark shadow passing by in the clouds in the sky.

"Letting him go... Of course there are other uses for him..."

"Then...should our army continue to march towards Shangcai City?" Chen Lie asked.

"No need. Cai Mao has 150,000 troops. Our army has been fighting hard for days and is exhausted. Even if we can attack the defenders in the city from both sides, I am afraid we will suffer huge losses before we can win. Pass the order to set up camp on the river bank. Also, the people who pretended to be Cao's prisoners and shouted just now did a good job. Give each of them a piece of jerky as a reward tonight."

"As ordered."

When Chen Lie and other generals left to prepare to set up camp, Zhang Yong stood on the shore, looking at the surging river, and began to fall into deep thought.

"Brother sent me a message via flying eagle. He first reminded me of the situation of Cai Mao, Wen Pin and Su Fei, and then told me to win quickly and not to kill all the enemy troops. I can't figure out what his intention is... I really can't figure it out..."

(End of this chapter)