Xun You saw the smoke and dust billowing from the camp in the distance and the Youzhou army retreating in formation. He said to Cao Ren: "General, please don't be in a hurry."
"I'd like to trouble General Cao Chun to hold the opponent back, and then send people to search the camp first to make sure there is no ambush before we can pursue the enemy with confidence."
After hearing this, Cao Ren asked Cao Chun to go first and said: "This time I will go in person to be sure. There is no way there are so many people in the camp!"
Xun You thought for a moment, "General, does he know what the bamboo tube is that made a loud noise and injured the soldiers?"
Cao Ren shook his head and said: "I don't know either. It is said that they fell on this thing within seconds last night, and the sergeant suffered heavy casualties!"
Xun You was full of suspicions, but now that the opportunity was fleeting, he could not allow him to think too much, so he said: "In that case, it is best for the general to be careful."
Cao Ren waved his hand, "There is no other way, and we can't let the Youzhou army run away. Even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire in front of us, we have to attack!"
However, he didn't expect it, and then his words came true.
When Cao Ren led a large number of troops into the camp to search, he felt that something was not good after a while.
Inside the opponent's camp, there were not only a large amount of dry firewood and dead branches, but also tung oil poured everywhere!
Cao Ren reacted immediately, was shocked, and yelled: "Get out quickly!"
However, at this time, the Youzhou soldiers came back again despite being harassed by Cao Chun's cavalry, and threw a large number of torches and bamboo tubes in from outside the camp. There was an instant explosion and the fire started raging.
Cao Ren also knew that this was a critical moment, so he mobilized his soldiers to break out of the encirclement. Cao Chunlejin from outside also hurriedly came to the rescue.
But the Youzhou Army outside also knew that as long as they guarded the gates of each village, the people inside would be burned alive, so they also shouted and refused to retreat.
The two sides were furious. Yuan Xi sighed when he saw that his side was suffering casualties too quickly, and lit a rocket.
The rocket jumped into the sky and exploded into a firework. An ambush previously hidden by the Youzhou Army moved into action.
At first, the troops were divided into three groups. Yuan Xi rescued people and Lu Xun defended the stronghold. However, the army led by Ju Shou lay in wait in the woods for half the night. When they saw the signal, they rushed out immediately.
Ju Shuojun rested for half the night, and his energy was at its peak. At this moment, Lejin's army was overwhelmed. Cao Jun continued to scream and died, and the corpses were piled up inside and outside the camp.
Cao Ren endured the scorching heat on his back. Seeing the flames slowly approaching, his heart felt cold. Could it be that he was going to die here today?
I thought that my side had more troops than the other side, but I didn't expect that the other side would turn around and try to annihilate me!
The other party's appetite is also too big. The key is, success is about to happen!
Time passed little by little, and many soldiers of Cao's army were on fire. They were running around screaming and their morale had completely collapsed. Cao Ren immediately wanted to kill himself. Cao Cao handed the central army into his own hands. As a result, Cao's army suffered casualties in less than an hour. heavy!
He looked at the densely packed Youzhou Army shields in front of the village gate and knew that he would not be able to break out no matter what.
The village has turned into a living hell. When Cao Ren was about to order the soldiers to launch the final charge, the sound of war drums came from the distance!
Cao Ren was overjoyed when he heard this voice and shouted: "Reinforcements are coming!"
"The envoy is here!"
Yuan Xi looked into the telescope and saw the dense figures on the horizon, and sighed to Lu Xun beside him: "I really don't have any trump cards this time."
"The other party can throw in all the Qingzhou soldiers, which is really powerful."
When Lu Xun saw it, he also sighed: "Sir, let's go. If you don't leave, it will be too late."
"Even if we retreat now, the losses will be considerable."
Yuan Xi frowned, but then raised his hand to signal retreat.
Cao Cao sat on the horse and looked at Cao Ren, who was rescued with black beard and hair, and sighed: "I didn't expect that Zixiao suffered such a big loss."
Cao Ren knelt on the ground and cried: "The general is incompetent and the soldiers are exhausted!"
"The Chinese army suffered heavy losses, please punish me!"
Cao Cao looked at the corpses on the battlefield in the distance, and his heart was bleeding. Counting Xiahou Yuan's defeat last night, after two games, Cao Cao's army suffered thousands of casualties, maybe even nearly 10,000!
Although some of them were slightly injured, the total number that Cao Cao brought this time was only more than 30,000 people!
If I go back home now, I will lose my pants!
Of course Cao Cao will not retreat, and the casualties of the Youzhou Army will not be small. The five to six thousand people who participated in the battle, after a series of fierce battles, aside from the casualties and exhausted ones, only half of them still have fighting strength!
There are still dozens of generals on Cao Jun's side, nearly 20,000 people, more than half of whom are the main force of the rear army who are unscathed!
Thinking of this, Cao Cao said: "Everyone, we can't look back!"
"Follow me to pursue the ferocious tigers and kill them all!"
After hearing this, all the generals roared angrily: "No!"
Yuan Xi looked at the Cao army's cavalry that was constantly harassing him behind, and his teeth itched with hatred. As long as his cavalry went to attack, the other side would retreat. Once they ignored it, they would swoop up like flies.
From the comparison of the number of casualties on both sides in this battle, our side should have made a lot of money, but the casualties of the soldiers on this side are also living lives.
Both sides suffered heavy losses, and Yuan Xi couldn't get out of this fight. Looking at Cao Jun like this, he obviously wanted to continue fighting with him!
Only then did Yuan Xi realize how terrifying people like Cao Cao were in this troubled world. In his eyes, soldiers were just numbers, and any number they came could be sacrificed, as long as the goal was achieved in the end.
Cao Cao's target is obviously Yuan Xi.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi also felt angry. Did he really treat me as a soft persimmon?
But he is no longer dumbfounded like before. The more arrogant the enemy is, the more he has to keep his head clear. Now, for him, the purpose of bleeding Cao Cao has been achieved. His own soldiers are already very tired and there is no reason to continue to consume them. , just need to find an opportunity to escape unscathed.
But Jushou rode over and said, "It's not quite right."
"If Cao Jun wants to catch up with us, he should speed up his march. But now the opponent's cavalry looks like they are constantly harassing us and making us tired."
Yuan Xi nodded slightly. He frowned when he saw the people fleeing with him on the road. What is the problem?
Mi Zhen was sitting on a simple cart, taking care of Mrs. Liu Bei next to her. She found that Mrs. Liu Bei's breathing was getting weaker and weaker, and she felt anxious. But now she was surrounded by exhausted soldiers and civilians. Everyone lowered their heads and hurried on, thinking that they were afraid Only when you return to the city can you find someone to heal you.
Mi Zhen's face turned pale when she thought of the scene where soldiers from both sides were fighting to the death. She had never thought that the real battlefield was like this. Everyone was like a wild beast, and the ground was covered with blood and stumps, like a bloody picture.
She spoke a few words to comfort Liu Bei's frightened daughter, but she heard a commotion ahead. People began to run around in panic, shouting: "The bandit army is coming!"
When Yuan Xi heard the report from the spies ahead, he sighed, thinking that things were indeed not going so smoothly.
Cao Cao predicted his route back to Haixi and arranged thousands of soldiers to detour and block his retreat.
It was also my fault that I had been in a series of battles and had no energy left to take a detour, so the opponent guessed their movements. The question now is, should I break through with all my strength, or should I retreat in another direction?
Cao Cao saw the Youzhou army stopped from a distance and formed a formation on the spot. He smiled and said: "It is really not easy to catch this fierce tiger."
"If this battle is successful, it will all be due to the planning of Zhongde and Gongda."
Cheng Yu and Xun You quickly said humbly: "It's your envoy's clever plan."
Cheng Yu looked at the neat formation of the Youzhou army and sighed: "This fierce tiger can be regarded as a good army leader. It is not easy to force him to such a point."
"This person actually still has a lot of trump cards, which caused a lot of losses to the two generals Xia Houyuan and Cao Ren."
Xun You said: "That bamboo tube that can make people angry and hurt?"
"It is indeed very dangerous, but there should not be many of them left, otherwise this battle would be really hard to predict."
Cao Cao nodded and said: "That thing is very troublesome, but it is not impossible to deal with it."
"As soon as possible, let the soldiers spread out as much as possible and dodge when they see the bamboo tube."
"Without this thing, Fierce Tiger has nothing to rely on to make a comeback."
He paused, "What a pity, I can't keep this person no matter what."
"If only he were my son."
Cheng Yuxun Youqiang smiled and said: "The eldest son has extraordinary abilities, he may not be worse than the fierce tiger."
The sound of fighting started again.
This time, compared to the past, the Youzhou Army was obviously starting to lose strength. They had been fighting for a day and a night, and they were already exhausted, and they were just barely holding on.
Zhang Fang felt that his limbs were as heavy as lead, and he could not open his eyes. He saw his partner holding the shield in front of him being pushed back by the enemy. He immediately took two steps forward and inserted the short crossbow through the gap in the shield. , aim at the enemy's face and trigger the trigger.
The short arrow hit the enemy between the eyebrows, and the man fell to the ground with a scream. Zhang Fang wanted to retract his hand, but the opponent's knife struck his short crossbow, cutting it into two pieces.
Zhang Fang retracted his hand and cursed. If it hadn't been for the arm guard, his hand would have been cut off with this knife.
Now the situation has become more and more difficult. The new soldiers on the other side are all elites who have recovered their strength. Youzhou soldiers can still fight with them in peacetime, but now they are all at the end of their strength!
The Youzhou army was forced to retreat continuously, and some people kept throwing exploding bamboo tubes. However, Cao Jun was on guard. When they saw the bamboo tubes falling, they all avoided it, so that the bamboo tubes could not cause effective damage.
When Yuan Xi saw this scene, he thought that he was still too hasty. If he wanted to escape, he would have to improve it next time. The outside should be made of thinner material than the bamboo tube, and iron nail fragments should be placed inside to increase the lethality. Assure.
But I can only think about it. Now Cao Jun is constantly encircling, and 20,000 soldiers have completely surrounded his 4,000 exhausted soldiers. Soon, he will die!
Seeing that the victory was in hand, Cheng Yu couldn't help but feel relaxed. He turned around and saw that Xun You still looked like he was facing a formidable enemy. He couldn't help but smile and said, "Are Gongda worried that the other party still has a trump card?"
Xun You sighed: "Indeed, I have suffered losses several times."
"Whenever I think my side is about to win, the other side always summons its troops."
Cheng Yu smiled and said: "Gongda is overly worried. All possible reinforcements will not be able to arrive within these three to five days."
"Youzhou is too far away, Guangling is threatened by Yuan Shu, and Yuan Tan is sitting still. Who else can come?"
"Except in heaven."
Before he finished speaking, he heard the faint sound of countless horse hooves in the distance.
Not long after, when the two of them saw the scene in the distance, their expressions suddenly changed.
A cavalry army galloped over. The leading general was in white robes and silver armor, holding a steel spear in his hand, and rushed towards Cao Jun's main formation.
"Changshan Zhao Zilong is here!"
(End of chapter)
