Chapter 319 You revive the Han Dynasty, and I go down in history. It's a win-win situation for both of us! Quickly capture Xuchang and don't let Cao Cao take advantage!

The King of Wei, the lord of six states, was so frightened that he fell to the ground in front of thousands of his ministers and soldiers?

Even when he was facing Gongsun Zan and was in a life-and-death situation, he had never been in such an embarrassing situation.

Fame, dignity, and holiness in the eyes of soldiers...

They were all crushed to the ground by Yuan Shao's sitting.

The remaining fighting spirit of the Wei army soldiers on both sides was shattered by him in an instant.

flight!
Even Yuan Shao's most elite personal troops lost their morale and turned to flee north.

After all, even you, the King of Wei, was so frightened that you fell to the ground. What reason do we have to fight to the death?

It's urgent to escape...

"Your Majesty!"

"Father!"

Yuan Tan, Ju Su and others rushed forward and hurriedly helped Yuan Shao up.

"Go away, you useless piece of shit!"

"I gave you an army of 100,000, but you couldn't defend the camp. You are not worthy of being my son!"

Yuan Shao pushed Yuan Tan away, bent down tremblingly, and tried to pick up the sword on the ground again.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

Countless sharp arrows whizzed in and fell like a torrential downpour.

"Protect the king!"

Ju Su yelled, leaned down quickly, and used his body to block Yuan Shao's head.

Arrows rain down!

There were loud screams and several guards were nailed to the ground.

A sharp arrow pierced Ju Su's shoulder, and the gushing blood sprayed all over Yuan Shao's face.

Although the blood was warm, it was like a bucket of ice water, which instantly cooled Yuan Shao's rage.

"Gong Yu, you, you..."

"Your Majesty, the situation is hopeless. Please order us to abandon the camp. If we don't leave, we will all die here—"

Ju Su endured the severe pain and tried to persuade him again in an almost pleading tone.

The word "death" struck Yuan Shao's heart like a thunderbolt. Fear replaced anger and immediately spread throughout his body like a flood.

Yuan Shao shuddered violently, no longer caring about his reputation and dignity, and shouted anxiously:
"Retreat, the entire army retreats!"

"I have received your order. Abandon the camp and retreat to Xuchang—"

Yuan Shao pushed Ju Su away with all his strength and struggled to get up, rolling and crawling.

Yuan Tan, Wen Chou and others, as if they had been pardoned, hurriedly helped Yuan Shao onto his horse and surrounded him as he fled north in panic.

Ju Su let out a long sigh of relief and then, with the help of the soldiers, he mounted his horse and fled after Yuan Shao.

"The king has ordered us to abandon our camp and retreat north!"

"The king has ordered us to abandon our camp and retreat north!"

The cry of retreat resounded throughout the camp.

The 100,000 Wei soldiers, like a flock of frightened sheep or ants whose nests were broken, threw away their weapons and fled to the north in panic.

...

When the sky brightened, the sounds of killing finally subsided.

A large flag with the word "Chu" on it has been raised over Guling.

Liu Bei and Xiao Fang rode their horses side by side and slowly stepped into the remaining Wei camp.

The ground was littered with the corpses of Wei soldiers, too numerous to count.

Thousands of surrendered Wei soldiers squatted on the ground in groups, trembling with fear and awaiting the decision of the Chu army.

The ground of the camp was littered with scattered weapons and flags.

What we see before us shows how tragically the Wei army was defeated and how miserable they were when they fled.

"Your Majesty, in this battle our army killed more than 50,000 enemies, of which nearly 30,000 surrendered."

"The weapons, flags, drums and other items captured are countless."

"The Wei army had no time to burn the millions of bushels of grain and grass in Guling, so our army seized them all!"

"Yide, General Han Sheng and his men are leading their troops northward in pursuit of Yuan Shao and his defeated army."

Gao Shun came running over and reported the results of the battle with an excited look on his face.

Liu Bei was greatly cheered up, and his face showed an expression of excitement and joy that he could not suppress.

Fifty thousand Wei troops!
Including the Battle of Xiangcheng, the total number of Wei troops annihilated was about 100,000!

In other words, Yuan Shao fled to Xuchang in disgrace with less than 50,000 remaining soldiers.

This also means that not only did the offensive and defensive momentum of the Chu and Wei armies reverse, but the comparison of the two armies' strength was also reversed because of this battle.

Yuan Shao has a large family and a great power. As long as he is given enough time and recruits another 100,000 soldiers, it will not be difficult to make up for the losses in these two battles.

But it takes time for him to recruit soldiers.

Even if we could gather 100,000 pigs, that would not be a matter of one or two days.

In at least half a year, the number of Chu troops south of the Yellow River will surpass that of Wei troops!

He certainly would not give Yuan Shao the opportunity to recruit troops and regroup. He naturally had to strike while the iron was hot, take advantage of his own military superiority, and capture Xuchang in one fell swoop and recover all the states south of the Yellow River!

"Congratulations, my king. After this battle, the strength of the Central Plains battlefield has been reversed."

"What the king needs to do now is to rest the soldiers for a while, and then march north to Xuchang."

"Recovering the Central Plains is just around the corner!"

Xiao Fang smiled and bowed to Liu Bei, sketching out a grand blueprint. Liu Bei was greatly excited, and his already excited blood became even more boiling because of Xiao Fang's words.

Looking up in the direction of Xuchang and the Central Plains, he had a vague feeling of unreality at that moment.

Yuan Shao, the most powerful overlord in the world, who dominated six states and had an army of 160,000, was actually defeated by himself!
Not just a defeat, but a severe blow.

Looking back to the past, I was defeated and fled to Xuzhou with only 3,000 remaining soldiers.

At that time, he never dared to imagine that one day he would have the strength to overwhelm Yuan Shao!
The reason why this dream can come true is all thanks to this man in front of me, who is as smart as a sage reborn.

Think about this.

Liu Bei was filled with gratitude, so he bowed to Xiao Fang:

"Jinglue, if it weren't for your help, how could I have created a miracle today and have the power to overwhelm Yuan Shao!"

"Please accept my greeting!"

In front of all the generals and soldiers, Liu Bei bowed to Xiao Fang to express his gratitude.

Xiao Fang was slightly surprised.

Things are different now. After all, Old Liu is now the King of Chu, and his status is by no means comparable to that of the past.

As the King of Chu, he can show such great courtesy to me. This shows how much respect and kindness he shows to me!
How could Xiao Fang not feel flattered?

Although his own achievements were worthy of Lao Liu's bow, as a subject, he naturally could not be open and frank and accept such a generous gift from Lao Liu in front of all the soldiers.

At that moment, Xiao Fang acted panic-stricken and bowed back:
"Your Majesty, such a great gift is beyond my reach."

"Your Majesty is a wise ruler in the world. It is my honor to assist Your Majesty and offer advice to Your Majesty in supporting the great cause of the Han Dynasty. I will do my best to help you."

"If the king revives the Han Dynasty one day, I will follow him and my name will go down in history. I should be the one to thank the king."

Xiao Fang returned Lao Liu's gratitude doubly.

People always like to hear nice words. Although Lao Liu is not a tyrant and only likes to hear flattering words, it does not mean that he does not like to hear nice words.

What's more, such flattering words came from Xiao Fang's mouth.

Liu Bei laughed and whipped his horse whip:
"Pass on my imperial decree. Take all the captured grain, rice, wine and meat today and use them as rewards for the soldiers of the three armies."

"There's a celebration banquet in the tent. I want to get drunk with the prime minister and the generals!"

Xiao Fang also laughed.

The soldiers of the three armies who survived the bloody battle cheered loudly, echoing along the banks of the Yingshui River.

That night, 80,000 Chu soldiers celebrated the great victory with wine and food, singing and dancing in the Guling camp.

In addition to one million hu of grain, Yuan Shao also had thousands of cattle and sheep. Liu Bei used the captured gifts from Yuan Shao to reward his own soldiers.

Inside Guling City.

A grand celebration banquet was also taking place.

Liu Bei was in a very good mood. He drank happily with his generals, celebrating this hard-earned victory.

"Jinglue, what do you think I should do next?"

"Are you going north along the Yingshui River and leading the army directly to Xuchang?"

Liu Bei was not carried away by victory. After drinking to his heart's content, his thoughts returned to the present.

After all, Yuan Shao had only fled after a disastrous defeat, and Xuchang and the provinces of Henan were still in his hands.

"Is there even any need to ask? We should take advantage of the situation and head north, crush Xuchang in one fell swoop, and behead that old thief Yuan!"

Zhang Fei happily raised his wine glass and shouted in a heroic and domineering manner.

All the generals responded with great confidence, as if Yuan Shao was a lamb to be slaughtered and would be vulnerable from then on.

"Everyone, Yuan Shao is a wealthy man after all, and he is not yet vulnerable to attack."

However, Xiao Fang pressed down his feather fan, signaling his generals not to underestimate the enemy.

Then he asked Xu Chu to bring the map and spread it out in the hall.

"Your Majesty, please see that Yuan Shao lost 100,000 soldiers in this battle, but at least 50,000 of them escaped."

"There are about 10,000 soldiers left behind in Xuchang, including about 30,000 soldiers in the western corps on the Kunyang line."

"If Yuan Shao is determined to withdraw his forces and defend the Xuchang line, the number of troops he can muster will be around 90,000."

"After my main force joins forces with General Yunchang's Jingzhou Legion, our total force will reach 120,000. We do have an advantage in terms of manpower."

"However, Xuchang is the imperial capital, and its walls are high and thick. If Yuan Shao is determined to defend Xuchang with 90,000 troops, and has the support of the states of the two rivers, it will be difficult for us to break through it quickly with our 120,000 troops."

"If we fail to capture Xuchang quickly, this war will repeat the battle of Xiangcheng, and will once again become a protracted war to test national strength."

"If Xuchang cannot be conquered quickly, the time to recover the prefectures in Henan will be greatly delayed."

"In this way, the biggest beneficiary becomes Cao Cao."

Xiao Fang changed the subject and pointed his feather fan to the west:
"Cao Cao has led his troops into Yangping Pass. I predict that Zhang Lu will surrender and Cao Cao will take Hanzhong in the next few days."

"After taking Hanzhong, he will certainly march south to take Bashu, and then take all of Yizhou."

"If we can't drive Yuan Shao back to Hebei before Cao Cao seizes Yizhou and marches eastward, the situation in the Central Plains will become complicated."

As everyone listened to Xiao Fang's analysis, their conceited attitude gradually began to calm down.

Liu Bei also stroked his thin beard and nodded heavily:
"Jing Lue's words make sense. The battle of Xuchang cannot be turned into a protracted war. Instead, Cao Cao will reap the benefits."

As the conversation changed, Liu Bei's face showed doubt again:

"But Hanzhong has a natural barrier called Yangping Pass, and Zhang Lu has at least 40,000 soldiers under his command. He shouldn't surrender to Cao Cao and give up Hanzhong, right?"

Xiao Fang smiled and was about to explain the reasons for his calculations.

The guards rushed in, holding up the silk book and shouting:
"Your Majesty, the Hanzhong spies have urgent reports."

"Cao Cao defeated Zhang Wei and Ma Chao a few days ago and broke through Yangping Pass. Zhang Lu has surrendered Nanzheng to Cao Cao!"

There was an uproar in the mansion hall.

Liu Bei and his generals all had a changed look on their faces, and they all looked at Xiao Fang in surprise.

(End of this chapter)