Chapter 316 Are you making fun of me? I have never been so cowardly in my life! The offense and defense have changed, accept the reality!

Yuan Shao suddenly woke up.

He misjudged.

He mistakenly judged that Liu Bei wanted to emulate Cao Cao and attempted to lead his elite troops to launch a surprise attack on Guling and burn all of his millions of hu of grain and grass!

He even misjudged that in order to ensure the success of the sneak attack, Liu Bei would personally lead his troops to inspire and boost the morale of the Chu army.

That is why he used Guo Tu and Xin Pi's strategy, mobilized his entire army, and attempted to encircle and block Liu Bei in order to achieve his goal in one battle.

However, Liu Bei had already calculated every step he took.

The surprise attack on Guling was just a ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain, only to divert his main force from the main camp in Xiangcheng.

The main camp of Yue was short of troops, so Liu Bei's real intention was to mobilize all 80,000 troops and attack and destroy the main camp in one fell swoop.

As it turned out, Liu Bei succeeded.

His 100,000-strong army was successfully lured away from the main camp of Xiangcheng. He rushed to Guling with great hope but found nothing.

At this moment, their camp might have been successfully attacked by Liu Bei, and the 40,000-strong army might have been destroyed!
He, the dignified King of Wei, was once again played like a clown!
And who else but Xiao Fang could have such a clever plan and play him in the palm of his hand?"

"Big-eared thief, Xiao Fang, you bastard!"

"How dare you, your master and your servant, play tricks on me like this—"

In anger and shame, Yuan Shao almost uttered a loud curse.

Chunyu Qiong's forehead was covered with sweat. He quietly took a few steps back, not daring to breathe.

Guo Tu was trembling with guilt in his eyes.

How can he not feel weak?

It was he who was certain that Liu Bei would personally lead an army of 30,000 to attack, and it was he who suggested to Yuan Shao to mobilize the main army to come to Guling to besiege Liu Bei.

It was his suggestion again that made Yuan Shao fail in his attempt and was once again played a trick by Liu Bei.

It was his advice that left the main camp depleted of troops and in danger of being attacked by Liu Bei.

Fortunately, Feng Ji was not present, otherwise he would have taken advantage of the situation to fan the flames and Yuan Shao would have been furious and executed him on the spot.

"Guo Tu!"

"You are so arrogant and boast about your intelligence, how could you be so stupid?"

"How could you be so stupid that you fell into Liu Bei's trap and lured me and his 100,000-man army here?"

"If it weren't for your stupidity, I wouldn't have been fooled by that big-eared thief!"

What Guo Tu worried about finally happened.

Yuan Shao immediately turned his attention to him and scolded him angrily.

Cold sweat rolled down Guo Tu's forehead. He lowered his head silently, and let Yuan Shao scold him with shame on his face, not daring to breathe.

"Chun Yuqiong!"

After Yuan Shao finished scolding Guo Tu, he turned the gun around and scolded with a disappointed look on his face:

"You are the most experienced general in Wei State, and you have been through many battles. How could you be so easily deceived by Liu Bei's deceptive troops?"

"Guo Tu can't see it, can't you see it either? The enemy is just feinting to attack Guling?"

Chun Yuqiong was also scolded so much that his face was filled with shame, and he stammered, not knowing how to defend himself.

These two heavyweights of the Ruying faction, one civil and one military, were severely reprimanded by Yuan Shao in front of all the generals and soldiers, which was really humiliating.

"Guo Gongze and General Chunyu really shouldn't have been so easily deceived by Liu Bei."

"But I think the most important thing right now is to return to rescue the camp as soon as possible."

"Although we have fallen into Liu Bei's trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain, we still have tens of thousands of soldiers in the main camp. Even if Liu Bei mobilizes his entire army to attack, he may not be able to take it easily."

"If we hurry back now, maybe we can still save the camp!"

As a military general from Hebei, Zhang He was naturally optimistic about Chunyu Qiong and Guo Tu, the two Ruying people who were severely scolded by Yuan Shao.

But he was the one with the best overall view among the four pillars of Hebei, so he stood up and persuaded Yuan Shao to distinguish between priorities.

Yuan Shao suddenly realized something, suppressed his anger, waved his hand and shouted:
"Pass on my order, the entire army will immediately march lightly and rush back to Xiangcheng camp!"

Chunyu Qiong and Guo Tu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After the imperial edict was passed down, the Wei army, which had just hurriedly traveled more than fifty miles, did not even have time to catch their breath, and could only turn around and rush back.

An army of one hundred thousand marched rapidly along the way.

Yuan Shao didn't care about the burden on his body and spurred his horse forward at full speed.

"I hope I can get back in time."

"I have tens of thousands of elite soldiers guarding the camp. Wen Chou, Ju Shou, Feng Ji and others are all here. Even if the big-eared thief takes advantage of the situation and attacks, what can we do?"

"Eighty thousand against forty thousand. I don't believe that the big-eared thieves can destroy my main camp in just one day..."

Yuan Shao's thoughts were surging, and his frown gradually relaxed.

He even began to fantasize about the scene in which he led the army back and caught Liu Bei, who was struggling to defeat the enemy for a long time, off guard.

In this way, maybe they could take advantage of the situation to counterattack and possibly break through the Chu camp in one fell swoop!
Yuan Shao gradually became excited and the corners of his mouth began to rise slightly.

"My lord, this is not good. It's our army!"

Zhang He suddenly reined in his horse, pointed ahead and shouted in surprise.

Yuan Shao was awakened, reined in his horse, and looked forward.

His body froze and stiffened, and all the fantasies in his heart were shattered in an instant.

Along the Yingshui Avenue, thousands of our own soldiers were seen rushing here like lost dogs.

Their armor was disheveled, their flags were gone, and they didn't even have weapons...

Escape from defeat!
This looks like someone fleeing in defeat.

This means that the main camp of Xiangcheng has most likely been lost!

Yuan Shao felt as if his heart was hit hard by a heavy hammer, and he instantly had the illusion of suffocation.

The defeated soldiers in the front came one after another and joined the 100,000-strong army.

Immediately afterwards, Ju Shou, Wen Chou, Feng Ji and others became panicked and dismounted from their horses and knelt down before Yuan Shao.

Several people looked at each other, and none of them dared to open their mouths to report the bad news to Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao suppressed his surging blood and asked in a deep voice:

"I ordered you to guard the main camp, why are you here?" From his words, it can be seen that he still has some illusions and hopes in his heart.

Wen Chou didn't dare to say anything and looked at Feng Ji.

Feng Ji swallowed his saliva, lowered his head, and did not dare to report the truth.

At last.

It was Ju Shou who took a long breath, clasped his hands and said silently:
"Your Majesty fell into Liu Bei's trap of moving away from Hushan, and after leading our main force north to Guling, Liu Bei sent his entire army to attack our main camp that same day!"

"I wanted to fight to the death, but Liu Bei used the Hanwei cannon to break through the wall of our camp, and then used cavalry to clear the way and took advantage of the situation to charge in."

"We fought hard but were defeated, so we had no choice but to abandon the camp and retreat northward."

"My 40,000 defenders suffered heavy losses. Xin Pi failed to withdraw in time and was killed by the enemy!"

"My lord, we lost this battle!"

Ju Su spoke the sad news in a heavy tone.

From his words, he obviously guessed the whole picture of Xiao Fang's plan and understood the truth that Yuan Shao was being fooled.

The last bit of luck was shattered!
Yuan Shao sat stiffly on his horse, the whip in his hand crackling, his face growing redder and veins bulging on his forehead.

His eyes were gradually filled with bloodshot, and the flames of anger and shame were burning more and more fiercely.

Yuan Shao never expected that the decisive battle between Wei and Chu would end like this.

Looking back, when he swore to march south from Xuchang, he was so ambitious and so contemptuous of Liu Bei.

He was confident that with the troops of six states under his command, it would be no problem for him to wipe out Liu Bei.

Even when he was blocked in Xiangcheng, his self-confidence never changed at all.

At most it would be the second Battle of Guandu.

Liu Bei will certainly be defeated by himself like Cao Cao was. It is only a matter of time.

The result was this:
The earthen hill was broken and one foot was lost.

The battle of Chengfu was lost and all the cavalry were wiped out.

Today, Liu Bei was led by the nose like a clown, the main camp was captured, and 40,000 soldiers were wiped out!
It's not like he hasn't been defeated before in his life, but this is the first time he has been defeated so miserably!
The dignity of the King of Wei was like a blade of grass, knocked to the ground and ruthlessly trampled by Liu Bei...

"I am the King of Wei, how can I be humiliated by a weaver of mats and a shoe seller like this—"

Yuan Shao was furious and let out an extremely angry roar.

The next moment, he pointed his whip to the south and shouted hoarsely:
"Pass on my order, the army will fight back immediately. I will take back the main camp and kill the big-eared thief!"

Ju Su and others were greatly shocked.

Although they still had an army of 100,000, they had a slight advantage in terms of manpower over the Chu army.

But these 100,000-strong army had been running back and forth for hundreds of miles without sleep for days and was exhausted and unable to fight again.

The most crucial thing is that the main camp was destroyed, and the tragic news that 40,000 defenders were annihilated will surely cause a great loss of morale to the army.

Under such circumstances, did Yuan Shao still want to retake the camp and defeat the Chu army?

If I go back, wouldn't that be just sending myself to death?

"My lord, our soldiers are exhausted and their morale is severely dampened. We no longer have the strength to fight!"

"If we forcibly take back the camp now, I'm afraid that we won't be able to take it back, and my 100,000-man army will also suffer heavy losses!"

"If these 100,000 troops are gone, Henan Province will be left without soldiers and will be taken by Liu Bei in no time!"

"By then, all the land south of the Yellow River will belong to Liu Bei, and the offensive and defensive situation will be completely changed!"

"Your Majesty, please stay calm and don't act on impulse!"

Ju Su did not care about Yuan Shao's anger and stood up quickly to persuade him loudly.

Feng Ji Wenchou was also panicked and hurriedly agreed to persuade him.

Yuan Shao's rage was finally subsided after everyone poured some cold water on him.

After calming down, he also realized that it was impossible to retake the camp at this time.

If we force a battle on impulse, as Ju Shou said, we will be in danger of annihilation of the entire army.

But he had no way to vent his anger, so he could only swallow it back into his stomach. The surging anger made Yuan Shao's heart feel like a raging sea.

His body shook violently, and a trace of blood flowed from the corner of his lips.

Ju Su and others were horrified and rushed forward in panic to support the staggering Yuan Shao.

"Your Majesty, please take care of yourself!"

"My great Wei family has a great cause. The loss of 40,000 soldiers is nothing. We still have 100,000 troops and Guling's food and grass are still there."

"Let's retreat back to Guling, stabilize the morale of the troops, and then march south to avenge our previous defeat!"

"If the king gets angry and becomes ill, and anything happens to him, our Wei will be finished!"

Feng Ji held Yuan Shao tightly and advised him with tears in his eyes.

Everyone was chattering, trying to persuade Yuan Shao in various ways, and trying to give him a way out.

However, Yuan Shao gritted his teeth, still unwilling and hesitant to make up his mind.

at this time.

To the south, dust and fog rolled in, covering the sky.

The scout came running over and shouted:

"Your Majesty, Liu Bei is leading an army of 80,000 soldiers northward along the Ying River and is heading towards our army!"

Thunder exploded.

The already panicked Wei army soldiers suddenly fell into panic, and their morale was further crushed.

The anger and unwillingness on Yuan Shao's face were instantly replaced by panic.

Dignity, anger, and face...all vanished in an instant.

"retreat!"

"Pass on my order, the entire army will withdraw to Guling immediately!"

"Retreat immediately——"

(End of this chapter)