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

Chapter 190 Gongsun Zan: Thank you so much for your great support, Top Rank 1!
The situation did not change because of Xu You's shock. While he was surprised by the sudden arrival of Gongsun Zan leading his cavalry, Zhang He had already left troops behind to cover the rear and prepared to withdraw.

There was no need to continue the battle. If the Yellow Turban army of the so-called General Hai Gong were scattered, Zhang He could lead his troops into the city and surely make Gongsun Zan's mission return empty-handed.

However, because Chunyu Qiong was trapped in the city, General Hai Gong's troops were not defeated.

Instead, they blocked the city gates, forcing Zhang He's troops to suffer a massacre at the hands of Gongsun Zan's cavalry in open battle.

If they continue to launch a strong attack on these Yellow Turban rebels, they will find themselves caught in a pincer movement.

Left with no other option, Zhang He left a detachment to cover their retreat, and led his troops to flee towards another gate of Zhangwu City amidst Gongsun Zan's charge.

However, the infantry suffered countless casualties while being pursued by the cavalry.

Fortunately, on their way back, they happened to run into the troops that Chunyu Qiong had previously ordered to leave the city through these gates to join forces and suppress the Yellow Turban Army.

Although these people numbered only two or three thousand, the arrival of fresh troops during the pursuit boosted the morale of Zhang He's forces somewhat.

Moreover, at this moment, everyone knows that the only way to survive is to escape into the city. With the Zhangwu city gates wide open and Zhang He shouting, the city gates are now wide open.

"The only way to survive is to fight to the death! Soldiers, charge with me!"

At his shout, the soldiers surged forward with astonishing speed, charging towards their own city.

Finally, after a desperate charge, Zhang He's remaining troops, along with two or three thousand men who had just been sent out by Chunyu Qiong and had not even arrived at the designated battlefield, fought their way into Zhangwu City.

Even after escaping into the city with his strategist Xu You, Zhang He still dared not relax his vigilance for a moment. He kept a close eye on the area outside the city gate, where Gongsun Zan, charging alone on horseback, was still laughing arrogantly.

"Zhang He, you brat, don't run away! Come and fight me for three hundred rounds, so that the world may know that I, Gongsun Zan, am also a famous general of Hebei!"

Zhang He: "."

Zhang He paid him no heed. Seeing Gongsun Zan's cavalry about to crush his rear guard, his gaze turned colder than ever before, and he loudly ordered the archers he had gathered and organized during this time to advance.

"Fire arrows!"

Seeing that their own brothers were within range, the archers hesitated for a moment, but were met with two more stern and short shouts in return.

"Release the arrows!"
Fire the arrows!!!

Anyone who disobeys will be executed!

As Zhang He spoke, he personally stepped forward and beheaded an archer who hesitated to draw his bow. The man's head rolled away, blood gushing forth. Such a stern order chilled everyone present.

Zhang He's personal guards all drew their swords, their eyes fixed coldly on the archers.

Even the other soldiers who had already fled into the city were secretly watching this scene, their eyes filled with cunning.

There's really nothing to hesitate about when it comes to choosing between someone else dying or yourself dying.

Some archers wore cold expressions, while others closed their eyes, but their arrows flew without hesitation toward their former comrades.

Such an attack of arrows would hardly cause much damage to Gongsun Zan and his men, who were heavily armored and charging at the forefront, and were in the closest pursuit.

But for the unprepared remaining troops of Yuan Shao's army, who only wanted to escape back to the city, it was a fatal and desperate situation.

In the incredulous pupils of these soldiers as they faced death, a rain of arrows from their former comrades was reflected.

With these people dying, being injured, or fleeing, the flow of people who were frantically rushing into the city gates was immediately halted.

Taking advantage of this brief respite, Zhang He immediately ordered, "Close the city gates!"

He practically spat out those three words through gritted teeth, but he didn't even need to shout them. As soon as the flow of people into the city stopped, the soldiers who had already entered the city spontaneously rushed to the mechanism controlling the city gate and started turning the pivot together.

As the heavy gate slowly closed, those locked outside were not only Gongsun Zan's cavalry, but also Yuan Shao's soldiers who had not yet entered the city.

However, everyone knew that once Gongsun Zan's cavalry were allowed to re-enter the city, their momentum would be unstoppable.

At that time, not only will Zhangwu City be lost, but everyone will also have to fight those steel monsters that are impervious to swords and spears again.

But those at the city gate didn't want to die, so they could only ask the brothers outside the city to die.

This explains why Zhang He reacted quickly, realizing that the city gates were occupied by the Yellow Turban rebels and that they could not be reached in a short time.

The first priority is to lead the troops to retreat to the nearest other city gate. Otherwise, if they encounter cavalry in the open field, and the infantry's defensive formation is breached, the entire army will be wiped out, with no chance of survival.

Because no one can escape a horse.

Even so, in the short time of the battle, Zhang He's 15,000 men lost nearly 10,000 of their men.

At the beginning, nearly a thousand of them were killed or wounded in a fierce battle with the Yellow Turban Army. After being attacked by cavalry, three thousand men were sent to block Gongsun Zan's pursuit, and three thousand men were sent to cover the rear of the Yellow Turban Army. When they finally entered the city, they abandoned the three thousand rear guards who had been run over by Gongsun Zan.

In this single battle, the morale of Zhang He's and Chunyu Qiong's troops, who came to Bohai's aid, was completely shattered, and they could only barely defend the city.

Jiang Qin's purpose in coming here was to plunder, and he had no need to attack the city for Gongsun Zan, which is why he let go of Zhangwu City, which was heavily guarded.

However, with Gongsun Zan and Zhao Yun leading cavalry nearby, Zhang He and Chunyu Qiong, whose troops had suffered heavy casualties and whose morale had collapsed, dared not easily leave the city to support other places.

On the contrary, it should be said that the main force of Yuan Shao's army in the entire Bohai Commandery was trapped in Zhangwu City.

So General Hai once again wreaked havoc in the Bohai Sea, easily conquering several coastal counties and looting them clean. After loading his large ships to the brim, he drifted away.

As for the cities that were looted by the Yellow Turbans, they were naturally handed over to Gongsun Zan, just as Qingzhou was handed over to Tian Kai.

Inside the county town, General Gongsun Zan, the White Horse General, distributed rice porridge while pointing to Zhao Yun, who stood beside him like a landmark, and introduced him to the people.

"He is the fifth child of Huangtian Yingyuan Xiansheng Daojun!"
Now he comes to my aid with the will of the Yellow Heaven. People, you should believe in me, for I, like you, believe in the Yellow Heaven. The Lord Yuan you speak of is the person I, Gongsun Zan, respect most in my life.”

How could they not be respected? They sent money and provisions, armor and weapons, and in the end, they even helped me defeat Yuan Shao's army and gave me many cities.

At this moment, even Gongsun Zan, who had originally decided to be a fence-sitter, was moved.

After receiving a series of generous donations from his top-ranking friend, Yuan Gong, he felt dizzy and his mind was constantly shifting.

On the other hand, the local people felt a sense of kinship when they heard that the general distributing grain actually believed in the Yellow Heaven, just like them.

In addition, in the north, General Gongsun Zan, the White Horse General, already had a great reputation for fighting against foreign tribes and protecting the border.

At this very moment, with the fifth adopted son of Huangtian Yingyuan Xiansheng Daojun present, the people's eyes were fixed on the bowls of rice being distributed, shouting to Huangtian and bowing in worship. In those prayers to Huangtian Yingyuan Xiansheng Daojun, Gongsun Zan won over the hearts of the people of Bohai.

When these events reached the nearby city of Zhangwu, how could Zhang He and his men not be furious?
Unfortunately, their crushing defeat at the gates of Zhangwu City last time caused them to lose their numerical advantage.

For now, they could only defend the city and block Gongsun Zan's route of further advance and invasion. They dared not go out of the city to fight his cavalry in the open field.

The group looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Xu You sighed and said, "I made a mistake and fell into someone else's trap. I will go back with General Chunyu Qiong to apologize to our lord and ask him to send more troops to reinforce us."

General Zhang, you are a reliable person, so I entrust the defense of this area to you. We have already lost quite a few coastal towns, so remember not to let Gongsun Zan advance any further.

Seeing the situation had suddenly deteriorated to this point, Zhang He could only helplessly utter a "Yes."

Chunyu Qiong knew that he had made a mistake by drinking last time and missed a crucial opportunity, so he lowered his head and dared not argue.

Contrary to their initial expectation of waiting for a windfall, the group went their separate ways and appeared quite dejected.

Jizhou, Yecheng.

"Enough! Stop arguing, keep arguing from night till dawn, what's the point? What are you trying to say?"

"My lord! I have something to say that I must speak out: please dismiss Ju Shou and let Guo Gong take over the war in Youzhou."

Gongsun Zan was at the end of his rope. Ju Shou led an army of 80,000 to garrison a county in Youzhou. At first, they won a series of victories, and within a few days, they captured the city.

However, the battle has just reached the Youbeiping County area, and for no apparent reason, things are not going well.

Every few days, the battle reports from the front lines would say that Gongsun's army had new weapons or that newly recruited cavalry had come to their aid.

After several days of fruitless effort, judging from the assessment, he must be nurturing a bandit to enhance his own power, intending to seize sole control of Youzhou and become its governor himself.

After Xin Ping finished speaking, Xin Pi quickly chimed in.

"What my elder brother says is absolutely right!"

My lord, Ju Gong is extremely cunning and deeply loved by the people. How can you possibly discern who is loyal and who is treacherous?

Even if he harbors no ill intentions, the lord must still be wary. Sending Guo Gong as a military supervisor to oversee the war would be a good idea.

While the Xin brothers, Xin Ping and Xin Pi, were speaking, Guo Tu simply kept his head down and remained silent. However, it was clear to everyone that they were following Guo Tu's will.

There's nothing we can do; the Yingchuan faction is in a hurry.

Ju Shou of the Hebei faction held great power in Youzhou to resist Gongsun Zan's army, Tian Feng held great power in the Taihang Mountains to deal with the Black Mountain bandits, and Shen Pei also held great power in Qingzhou under the pretext of assisting Yuan Tan.

Even Xu You, who was arrogant and looked down on everyone and had poor relations with both factions, went to Bohai County to take charge of power and fight the Yellow Turbans to gain merit.

And what else does the Yingchuan faction have?

Some of them were Guo Tu who had led his troops out for a few days but returned empty-handed and was persuaded to retreat by Xu You.

Yes! They know that in times of war, the overall situation must be prioritized, but the current situation is not right!
With the Hebei faction in complete control, if things continue like this, even if Yuan Shao wins, what will it have to do with the Yingchuan faction?
Moreover, every single one of these people either explicitly supports Yuan Shang or has a tendency to support him.

This won't do. If things continue like this, their own little scheme might collapse before the overall situation does!
They have no choice but to fight now!

At this moment, the disadvantage of the fact that the few people from the Hebei faction who had influence and authority in front of Yuan Shao were absent became apparent.

Although they were all sent out to wield great power, they had no one left to speak on their behalf in front of Yuan Shao.

So, faced with the rare unanimous opinion of his advisors, who said that Ju Shou wanted to hold onto his military power, he was surprised to find that Ju Shou was actually planning to become too powerful.

Yuan Shao did not believe that Ju Shou wanted to establish himself as emperor.

However, he had no choice but to take the eloquent advice of the Yingchuan faction's advisors seriously.

Because of balance!

Once the balance within his own faction is completely broken, he, as the lord, will inevitably suffer a backlash.

Moreover, he had previously gritted his teeth and swallowed his pride, disregarding everything to gather a full 80,000 troops and hand them over to Ju Shou, because he trusted him and hoped that he could destroy Gongsun Zan in one fell swoop.

Everything was going well up ahead, with unstoppable momentum, but suddenly, halfway through the battle, Ju Gong told me that we suddenly couldn't fight anymore.
What's going on?

With doubts and anxieties in his heart, it seemed reasonable to send Guo Tu to supervise the army and urge them on.

Just as he was pondering for a moment, nodding slightly, about to say "What you say is very true," he heard a person outside the hall laughing loudly and walking slowly in.

"A short-sighted and ignorant person like me is not qualified to offer advice to our lord?"

Before the people arrive, the sound arrives first!
Upon hearing this as he walked out of the hall, Xu You, who had been feeling depressed after leading Chunyu Qiong to apologize, raised his chin high, adopting an air of smug confidence.

He knew perfectly well that because he had seized power from Guo Tu in Bohai last time, if he showed weakness and begged for forgiveness now, he would be condemned by everyone and would never recover in Yuan's camp.

But things are different now!

Because Ju Shou was also troubled by the matter of fighting Gongsun Zan.

Clearly, while Ju Shou was being defeated by Gongsun Zan at Bohai, Yan Tong, a general under Gongsun Zan, must have also been causing Ju Shou a lot of trouble on the front lines in Youzhou, under Cheng Yu's schemes.

That’s it!
Even with an army of 80,000, Ju Shou could not defeat one of Gongsun Zan's generals.

I, Xu You, successfully contained Gongsun Zan's personal surprise attack by building a defensive line in Zhangwu County, effectively stopping him from advancing further in several coastal counties. Clearly, I have done more than deserve credit!

Most importantly, only Xu Ziyuan knows the core intelligence that Gongsun Zan is suddenly so powerful right now, not only resisting Ju Shou's attack in Youzhou, but also launching a surprise counterattack in Bohai County!
"A short-sighted and ignorant person like me is not qualified to offer advice to our lord?"

As this sound rang out, everyone in the hall looked in the direction of the sound and saw Xu You walking in with his head held high and chest out.

The group was taken aback to see him return, for the military report concerning the Bohai campaign was still in Xu You's hands. He had rushed here to personally deliver it to Yuan Shao.

After all, no one understood Yuan Shao's good nature of listening to advice and his treacherous nature of kicking someone when they were down better than the strategists in Yuan Shao's camp.

If he were not present, and the military report arrived first, there was no certainty whether Xu You would be able to return alive today.

In any case, sending military reports requires a fast horse, but Xu You is the military report itself. He is worried about important matters and comes with the soldiers who are sending military reports to report the military situation in person. Who can say that he is wrong?

(End of this chapter)