Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 126 Yang Feng: My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens!

After the carriages and horses had seen Cai Yan off, Yuan Shu continued to coordinate with Zhou Yu to deploy troops.

Despite the moon being high in the sky and Yuan's army having fought a bloody battle all day, there were still three places where the Black Mountain Little Chieftain, Sun Qing, Mao Jie, and Cao Chun were engaged in fierce fighting.

Yuan Shu led his remaining nine thousand main force to attack Zhang Ping, the leader of the tenth Black Mountain tribe. Together with the three thousand Yuan soldiers who were already fighting Zhang Ping's troops, they attacked from both sides and annihilated them.

At this moment, Yuan Shu's main force has recovered to 12,000 men. When he resumed his old ways and wiped out the eleventh Black Mountain bandit leader in the same manner, his main force recovered to 15,000 men.

This time, Zhou Yu's strategy of adding fuel to the fire, using the arrangement of overwhelming the few, finally brought the first bad news.

The 20,000 reserve troops responsible for replenishing oil, who were tasked with maintaining more than a dozen battlefields during the day's bloody fighting, are about to be exhausted.

This is unavoidable. With more than a dozen battlefields underway at the same time, every location requires replenishment, consumption, and delays, which means that the troops are being consumed and evaporated at a rate ten times faster than usual.

Although they made it appear as if they had 200,000 troops, in reality, only 70,000 of Yuan's army were fighting against 130,000 enemy troops.

The fact that they could still fight and hold out for a whole day and night shows that Zhou Yu was a genius in military strategy.

With things having come to this point, there was no room for retreat. The outcome of this battle hinged on this one move. Both sides had committed almost all their forces to this one battle. In this bloody battle of 200,000 against the Liang Kingdom, where was there any way to retreat?

Shu then followed Yu's plan and divided his troops into another 5,000 as reserves to make up for the shortfall.

He then led his ten thousand troops to a swift and decisive battle, and rushed to the twelfth Black Mountain Little Chieftain's camp.

Just then, he was shocked to learn that his true opponent in this battle was the Guanglu Xun, a close advisor to the emperor and the commander-in-chief in charge of the Liang Kingdom's war.

Xu Huang, also known as Xu Gongming, finally led 4,000 troops out of Meng County to come to the rescue.

To be honest, Xu Huang's decision to send troops at this time surprised both Yuan Shu and Zhou Yu.

If he had arrived with his troops before Hun Tu Xie was defeated, it would have coincided with the Yuan army's reinforcements being exhausted at the same time.

Yuan Shu had no choice but to lead his main force to meet him, which might be the last straw that broke the camel's back, thus disrupting Zhou Yu's intricate cycle of dividing and combining troops.

But just then, not only did Hun Tu Xie die, but because of Cai Yan, he died faster than anyone expected, so fast that it caught everyone off guard, and the entire army was wiped out.

With this shift in power, Yuan Shu gained a formidable new force.

Without Zhou Yu needing to advise or remind him, Yuan Shu chuckled and said to Sun Ce:

"Bo Fu, my son, are you willing to take Xu Huang's head for your father again?"

"I dare not disobey my adoptive father and die for him!"

Shu then ordered Ce and Chu to lead four thousand cavalry to meet Xu Huang, while he personally led ten thousand troops to rush to the last Black Mountain chieftain.

Not long ago, in Mengxian County.

Xu Huang was in the county government office, studying the map of Liang, planning how to surround Yuan Shu's army with his 130,000 troops and annihilate Yuan Shu's main force in Liang.

Instead of receiving news of friendly forces joining them, Xu Huang received letter after letter from the Black Mountain Army requesting reinforcements. With twelve letters in hand, Xu Huang coldly turned to the last one, a letter from Sun Qing, and his expression changed drastically.

"Sun Qing is reckless and has ruined my plans!"

He had long ago ordered all sides to gather in Meng County. At that time, the 130,000-strong army would unite in one place, and he would personally command them. With overwhelming numbers, how could Yuan's army not be defeated?

Unfortunately, the army that Prime Minister Cao assigned to him was just a motley crew.
On their way there, the Xiongnu began raiding the Liang Kingdom.

The 100,000 Black Mountain bandits scattered to find food among the people, fearing that they wouldn't be fast enough and that someone else would rob them first, so none of them came to join them.

Even the troops of Cao Chun and Mao Jie often regarded themselves as Cao's army and did not take him, a close minister of the emperor, seriously.

To be honest, given the disorganization of these troops, he almost suspected that Cao Cao wanted to use Yuan Shu as a tool, relying on him, the emperor, as his support.

Seeing Sun Qingbing's forces scattered and seeking food, thus bringing about this disaster, how could Xu Huang not be furious?
"Yuan Jun has 200,000 troops? That's a joke!"
If there were truly so many Yuan troops, the traitor Yuan would have already attacked Luoyang; why would he still be attacking Liang?

Although he was inwardly cursing Sun Qing for making mistakes and the Black Mountain bandits for being useless, Xu Huang could roughly guess Yuan's army's tactics by looking at the thirteen letters requesting reinforcements in his hand.

This must be a delaying tactic, a strategy of overwhelming the weak with the many.

Having figured this out, he couldn't help but feel wary.

It is well known that the piecemeal tactic is a major taboo in military strategy. Who would have thought that Yuan Shu had such a brilliant military strategist by his side who could command tens of thousands of troops as if they were his own limbs?
However, he had a plan in mind to break this deadlock!

If the entire army can be pushed forward in a short period of time, the sudden surge in enemy forces will overwhelm their numbers, preventing them from maneuvering and circulating their troops. This situation will inevitably be broken, and victory can be achieved.

He immediately ordered Mao Jie, Cao Chun, and the Xiongnu to send troops together.

Meanwhile, he was also preparing to launch an expedition to join forces with the allied forces of various tribes to attack Yuan Shu.

However, he did not know whether Mao Jie, Cao Chun, and the Xiongnu were following his orders and cooperating with the attack.

Unfortunately, trouble struck right under his nose. He, a high-ranking official close to the emperor and commander-in-chief of the Liang Kingdom's allied forces, was unable to mobilize the 5,000 troops of Meng County.

Xu Huang's expression changed drastically as he glared angrily at Yang Feng, who was blocking the way in front of the military camp.

"General Yang, what is the reason for this? Are you disobeying the Emperor's edict and defying my orders?"

Looking at Xu Huang, who was riding a tall horse and dressed in bright armor, Yang Feng smiled, his eyes filled with resentment born of jealousy.

Why!
It was clearly Yang Feng who was the first to arrive to protect the emperor and escort him out of Chang'an. He fought against Li and Guo all the way, suffering countless casualties and narrowly escaping death several times.

But now?

His former subordinate, who was once a high-ranking official, became a newly favored figure of the emperor due to his meritorious service in saving the emperor, and was appointed as one of the Nine Ministers, Guanglu Xun.

And what about Yang Feng?
Cao Cao feared him and regarded him as a thorn in his side, wishing he could get rid of him as soon as possible!
This time, he was not only ordered to fight to the death with Yuan's army in Liang, but also to obey the orders of his former subordinate, Xu Huang.

Why?
Yang Feng is not convinced!
(End of this chapter)