Chapter 359 Victory is certain
Guan Yu’s camp was to the west, on the Chi Road.

In the afternoon, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry dismounted to rest, and Cao Chun also climbed up a tree to observe the battlefields.

Seeing that his brother Cao Ren began to send troops towards Xiangcheng, Cao Chun clenched his right fist and waved it lightly, secretly encouraging himself.

Everyone was confident that they could capture Guan Yu's camp.

But this confidence was limited. No one could defeat Guan Yu's 5,000-strong army in one day.

From the beginning to the end, Cao Chun's goal was not to intercept and kill Guan Yu's breaking out troops.

He came here to support Cao Ren in joining the war.

In the afternoon, Cao Ren opened the city gates and the vanguard troops left the city and marched in formation.

Cao Chun ordered the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to mount their horses, move slowly, and maintain a formation ready to charge at any time to support Cao Ren.

In the dry ditch on the east side, Zhang Fei raised his hand to push aside the grass in front of him and looked out to observe Cao Ren's marching formation a mile away.

But four or five miles away were the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry who had reined in their horses and formed a battle formation. Zhang Fei could not help but tightly grasp the bundle of grass, slowly tear it apart and throw it on the ground.

He was lying in ambush at a low point and his vision was unclear.

On the Yingshan Mountain in the east, General Zhao Yun led 3,000 elite Han and Hu cavalry to charge down. The cavalry teams consisting of forty or fifty knights were like a school of fish.

Zhao Yun personally led more than a hundred cavalrymen as the vanguard and was the first to break through the formation of Cao Ren's army. When he turned around and charged again, the six or seven thousand motley crowd immediately scattered.

The Wuhuan servant knights in the formation scrambled to capture prisoners and snatch spoils, and the organization was disorganized.

Zhao Yun reined in his horse and looked at the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in the distance slowly changing their formation to face him. He could only watch Cao Ren's main force march eastward.

It was getting dark. After Cao Ren's team arrived at the battlefield and rested for more than an hour, they finally joined the siege of Guan Yu's camp.

Cao Ren was famous for his offensive prowess, and the soldiers under his command were accustomed to killing.

Under the urging of military officers of all ranks, rows of armored soldiers abandoned their shields and charged forward with spears and halberds.

The soldiers in Guan Yu's camp were exhausted after a day of fierce fighting and were unable to resist.

Guan Yu joined the fight with a great sword that could kill horses, and no one could stop him even when he was in front of him.

However, if he defeated a squadron of Cao's hundred men, he would find it difficult to quickly pursue and annihilate it, as it would be intercepted by another squadron of Cao's army. The retreating squadron of Cao's hundred men would then be able to quickly gain a foothold and return to combat status.

After several rounds of fighting, Guan Yu was out of breath. Zhou Cang brought Red Hare to him and said, "Sir! The enemy army is growing in number. We should keep those who are useful to us!"

Guan Yu looked up at the stars and the moon in the sky, then at the fireworks, the sounds of fighting, and the moving figures around him: "Yide and Zilong will not sit idly by! We cannot retreat. If we retreat now, all the men will die in vain, and only one out of a hundred will survive! Beat the drums, and encourage all the soldiers in the camp!"

To the northwest of the camp, Zhang Fei moved along the canal and had already arrived three miles north of the camp.

The knights led by Zhao Yun also appeared in the northwest of the camp, and Liu Bei also led his troops to slowly advance along the Jingyu Road.

To the east of the camp, Cao Cao stood on a wooden platform and watched the battle.

At this time, Xiahou Yuan used his hands and feet to quickly climb the wooden ladder to the stage and said: "Mingsir, Guan Yu is exhausted, I request to join the battle."

Cao Cao just squinted his eyes and looked into the distance. He did not expect that Li Dian's clan soldiers would fight so hard at this moment. They were entangled in a fight with Guan Yu's East Camp guards, and neither could do anything to the other.

There must be something wrong. Li Dian did not fight desperately.

I can see it here, how could Guan Yu, who was fighting Li Dian face to face, not know about it?
Now Li Dian was holding Guan Yu's lifeline, and Guan Yu's defense focus became Cao Ren; as long as Li Dian was determined to invest the last reserve troops, the whole army would surely be able to break through with one go.

Li Dian was unwilling to put in any effort, and Yu Jin was even more overwhelmed.

The troops assigned to Yu Jin were mainly from Qingzhou. Although they were elite, they had no intention of fighting desperately. However, Le Jin fought fiercely and was the target of Guan Yu's counterattack.

After a day of fierce fighting, more than 300 people of Le Jin's troops were killed and they had lost their combat effectiveness.

As Xiahou Yuan said, as long as Xiahou Yuan leads the general reserve force to push forward, there is no need to worry about Li Dian and the Qingzhou soldiers being unwilling to fight.

But if Guan Yu was really severely injured or killed, who could withstand Liu Bei's revenge afterwards?
Cao Cao did not dare to kill Guan Yu, nor was he willing to kill him.

If Guan Yu was really killed, given Liu Bei's character, he would definitely lead his entire army to Guanzhong, just for a chance to take revenge.

When Liu Bei turned into a mad dog and abandoned some of his bottom lines, he would be unable to resist it at all!
While he was thinking, a messenger came on a fast horse and shouted from the bottom of the wooden platform: "Report! Liu Xuande's troops joined the battle, and the commander-in-chief was caught in a pincer attack! Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei did not join the battle, and the commander-in-chief gathered his men to wait and see!"

After the messenger from the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry reported the battle situation in the west, Xiahou Yuan turned his head to look at the firelight in the west at night: "Liu Xuande and Guan Yu are fighting here, how can Zhang Yide just sit there and watch? Zihe's decision is right. We must guard against Zhang Yide's surprise attack."

The niece he raised with great effort married Zhang Fei. At this moment, Xiahou Yuan forgot his purpose of coming here. He looked up at the battle situation in the west, trying to analyze the situation through the changes in the firelight.

Cao Cao just nodded. No matter how bad the situation on the front line was, there was a limit.

Li Dian conserved his strength throughout the whole process and refused to take the initiative to attack. After the situation on the battlefield turned around, Guan Yu was not sure whether he could defeat Li Dian.

The same is true for the Qingzhou soldiers under Yu Jin's command. Just because they have achieved little in the battle does not mean that these people will surrender to being killed.

Therefore, retaining the general reserve now is equivalent to grasping the tail of victory.

When the armies on the front lines are exhausted from fighting, Liu Bei, who does not have enough reserve troops, will naturally withdraw his troops, and then you can pursue and kill them.

Cao Cao was not in a hurry either. From the moment Xiahou Yuan successfully ambushed and killed Chang Xi, the outcome between him and Liu Bei was already clear.

If Liu Bei wanted to win, he should have let Xu Huang lead his troops to the front line to help as soon as he could when he tried to persuade Xu Huang to rebel, instead of staying in Chenliu to open up a new battlefield.

Cao Cao understood Liu Bei's behavior very well, because Liu Bei had never been rich and had an instinctive desire to expand the territory under his rule.

It cannot be said that Liu Bei's idea was wrong, it can only be said that Jia Xu's strategy led to the death of Chang Xi.

Otherwise, if Chang Xi dragged Xiahou Yuan to death, no one would be able to do anything to Xu Huang. By the time Xu Huang gathered the people of Yanzhou and went south to join the war, the fighting spirit of the troops in Xuchang would have collapsed, and there was a possibility that they would collapse without a fight.

There was silence around the wooden platform. When the nearby guards added firewood to the campfire, several horsemen came running over with torches in hand.

The leading knight jumped off his horse and shouted to the stage: "Zhang Yide is ambushing in the north, Guan Yu broke out from the camp to the west, trying to join forces! The commander-in-chief is in a tough fight, and Zhao Zilong is harassing the commander-in-chief!"

Seeing that the messenger and the accompanying knights were injured, Cao Cao asked, "How are the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry doing?"

"Zhao Zilong attacked the Tiger Cavalry formation under cover of darkness. The Tiger Cavalry fought hard but could not escape. The Leopard Cavalry came to reinforce them. For the time being, the outcome was still undecided!"

The messenger was very stubborn and answered by pulling Sangzi.

Cao Cao turned his head to look at Xiahou Yuan and said, "Miaocai, lead the troops slowly to approach. Send orders to Yu Jin, Li Dian, and Le Jin, and order them to attack the enemy camp fiercely. Tell them that Yunchang is trying to break the siege to the west. Now is the time to break the enemy's pursuit. There must be no mistakes!"

"Here!"

Xiahou Yuan turned around and went down the wooden ladder. At this time, more than a dozen Wuhuan knights approached. The outer defenders shouted, waved or threw torches, trying to scare away the enemy.

The dozen knights turned and flew past the wooden platform fifty or sixty steps in front of it. They drew their bows one after another, and a dozen arrows shot at the wooden platform based on their feeling.

An arrow hit Cao Xiu's shoulder, but he just shook his body slightly and the arrow was deflected away.

Xiahou Yuan, who had just stepped down from the wooden platform, looked up at Cao Cao, and Cao Cao also looked down at him.

Xiahou Yuan bowed and turned to walk quickly towards his personal guard and his horse. The personal guard handed him a helmet, Xiahou Yuan put it on his head, caught the lance and waved it: "Beat the drum, attack!"

(End of this chapter)