Chapter 326: Stealing a chicken but losing the rice! I gave my sincerity to the dog, I will go to the underworld to see your Yuan family destroyed!
Arrows suddenly rained down from all directions?
There must be an ambush!

Yuan Tan didn't have time to think, he waved the silver spear in his hand wildly and blocked it in front of him.

The guards on both sides raised their shields to protect Yuan Tan.

The next moment, a rain of arrows fell to the ground.

Countless streams of blood flew into the air.

The Wei soldiers, who had just crossed the river and had no time to form a battle formation, were caught off guard by the sudden rain of arrows.

Hundreds of Wei soldiers were nailed to the ground before they could react.

Screams rang out one after another.

"Xun Youruo, what's going on?"

"Didn't you say that the Chu army was defenseless? Why would there be an ambush?"

Yuan Tan, hiding under the shield, shouted at Xun Chen beside him.

Xun Chen huddled up and looked around, with a look of surprise and confusion on his face.

Facing Yuan Tan's questioning, he rolled his eyes and pretended to be calm:
"Perhaps the Yingyang defenders discovered our army's tracks, so they ambushed us here, hoping to catch us off guard."

"The enemy has no more than a thousand men at most. Don't panic, young master. We will quickly form a battle formation and advance. We will surely defeat the enemy."

Yuan Tan then calmed down a little, and immediately waved his silver spear and ordered his soldiers to form a formation.

The Wei soldiers, who were shot to the ground, managed to calm themselves down and began to form a battle formation against the rain of arrows.

The Wei soldiers on the boats who had not yet landed were urged to speed up and land.

The panic situation of the Wei army seemed to have eased slightly.

A few dozen steps away.

Guan Ping was standing on his horse with his sword drawn, admiring the miserable state of the Wei army being suppressed by the hail of arrows in the morning light.

"Looking at the number of enemy troops, there should be more than 15,000 people, which should be the main force of the Xuchang defenders."

"Prime Minister Xiao is truly a god. Yuan Tan's every move was indeed within his expectations."

"With Prime Minister Xiao here, it's no wonder that Yuan Shao was defeated by the king and lost 100,000 soldiers. He is vulnerable!"

Guan Ping sighed with emotion, his brows full of admiration.

When he saw the Wei army, which was originally in chaos, began to form a battle formation under the rain of arrows in the morning light, the emotion in his eyes instantly turned into murderous intent.

"Still want to form a formation and struggle? Dream on!"

Guan Ping snorted coldly and raised the long sword in his hand:
"Crossbowmen, stop shooting!"

"All troops, listen up! Follow me and drive the Wei dogs down the Ying River!"

When the order was given, the sound of war drums suddenly changed.

The rain of arrows suddenly stopped.

More than 5,000 Chu soldiers rushed out from the darkness, like a giant sword piercing the morning light, and charged towards the Wei army that was hastily forming a battle formation.

In a blink of an eye, the Chu army was unstoppable and crashed into the enemy.

The sound of breaking, screaming, and horse neighing...all became louder in an instant, drowning out all other sounds in the world.

The Wei army was in such a hurry that they had no time to form a battle formation and were cut in half by the Chu army.

Guan Ping rushed to the front, waving his long sword wildly, harvesting heads madly, and defeated the Wei army with a devastating force.

The center route was breached, the formation was torn in half, and the morale of the more than 7,000 Wei troops who landed immediately collapsed and they retreated on all fronts.

Under the central army flag.

Yuan Tan, who was shouting at his soldiers to form a battle formation, was stunned again when he saw this scene.

Wasn’t it agreed that the Chu army only had a thousand people?
How come so many soldiers suddenly appeared after the rain of arrows? Judging from the appearance of their force, there are at least 5,000 of them!
Didn’t Guan Yu lead the main force to attack Luoyang? Why did he leave more than 5,000 soldiers in Yingyang City?

It was obvious that Guan Yu had long anticipated that he would lead the troops from Xuchang to launch a surprise attack on Yingyang, so he deployed heavy troops here in order to attack him halfway across the river!
"Xun Chen, how do you explain it?"

Yuan Tan woke up in shock, his face suddenly distorted, and his angry eyes turned back to Xun Chen again.

"This this…"

"Then how could Guan Yu possibly have figured out that we would attack Yingyang?"

"This doesn't make sense, this, this..."

Xun Chen's face was so pale, cold sweat was rolling down his forehead, and he mumbled, not knowing how to explain.

While the two were talking, their own army had completely collapsed, and the Wei soldiers in front of them were like frightened birds, rushing towards the shore.

"My Lord, Chen miscalculated. I didn't expect Guan Yu to have a large force lying in wait here and attack us halfway across the river!"

"The army is now in disarray. We have no chance of turning defeat into victory. Let's quickly board the ship and retreat to the east coast. Let's retreat to Xuchang first and then make plans."

At the critical moment, Xun Chen could only admit his miscalculation and urged in a trembling voice.

Yuan Tan shuddered, and his anger instantly turned into fear.

Looking at the ruined situation before him again, he gritted his teeth and shouted:

"Pass on my order. All troops must withdraw to the ships and retreat to the east coast."

"Order the troops that have not yet landed to stop landing and retreat to Yingshui immediately!"

Yuan Tan turned his horse around and fled towards the beach.

Xun Chen breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly chased Yuan Tan towards the raft.

The eight thousand soldiers who landed on the shore collapsed and scrambled to flee to the beach.

just.

The incident happened in a hurry, and before the order to retreat could be passed on to the rear army, the defeated soldiers of the front army had already rushed over.

The front and rear armies were crowded on the narrow beach and were unable to retreat to the boats and rafts in time.

The Wei army was crowded on the shore, unable to advance or retreat.

The Chu army pursuers led by Guan Ping took advantage of the situation and caught up with them, crushing and killing them all the way.

The 5,000-plus Chu troops, like driving lambs, killed the three-times larger Wei army, causing them to howl in agony and drove them all the way down the Yingshui River.

Yuan Tan was running wildly, wishing he could grow wings and fly onto the raft.

However, he was crowded with his own soldiers in front, and when he turned around, he saw the Chu army behind him, charging at him like tigers and wolves.

Yuan Tan panicked, so he made up his mind, raised his spear and stabbed a Wei soldier who was blocking his way to the ground.

"Break a path for me, or we will all die!" Yuan Tan brandished his spear and killed wildly while roaring at his left and right guards.

Dozens of guards were stunned for a moment, then they reacted, their eyes instantly bloodshot and looking as ferocious as beasts.

He swung the blade and ruthlessly chopped down his comrade.

They killed crazily all the way, killing dozens of Wei soldiers in a row, and finally rushed to the shore and grabbed a boat.

"Set sail, set sail quickly!"

Yuan Tan stood at the stern of the boat and shouted at his guards on both sides.

Everyone dropped their weapons and hurriedly pushed the boats away from the shore, heading towards the Yingshui River.

More than ten Wei soldiers chased after them, grabbed the ropes and tried to board the ship, begging for mercy.

Yuan Tan's expression was as cold as ice. He drew his sword and slashed down without mercy.

Accompanied by screams, more than a dozen pairs of hands were cut off. The Wei soldiers with broken hands pleaded in pain and fell to the ground.

Finally getting rid of the burden, Yuan Tan breathed a sigh of relief.

Just when I was about to secretly rejoice, I saw a familiar figure squeezing through the crowd on the beach ahead and catching up with the boat.

"Young Master, wait for me, wait for me~~"

Xun Chen ran stumblingly, shouting almost in a pleading voice.

Yuan Tan's heart was shocked, and he immediately wanted to order the soldiers to stop the boat and wait for Xun Chen to get on board.

By the time he had finished speaking, more than a dozen Chu cavalrymen had already rushed to the riverbank.

Guan Ping rushed forward, waving the long sword in his hand, and chopped down the fleeing Wei soldiers like grass.

Looking up, I soon discovered a man dressed as a scholar running wildly on the beach ahead.

No need to guess, he must be an important figure in the Wei army.

Guan Ping's eyes were bloodshot, he spurred his horse and dragged his sword, then chased after Xun Chen.

Yuan Tan saw this scene and after hesitating for a moment, he shouted:
"Quick, speed up, get away from the shore!"

Instead of stopping, the boat sped away and in a blink of an eye it escaped into the Ying River, abandoning Xun Chen on the beach.

"My Lord——"

Xun Chen knelt on the ground, looking at Yuan Tan who had abandoned him, his face twisted with endless disappointment and grief.

Looking back, you, Yuan Tan, were captured and your life or death was uncertain.

In order to rescue you, I, Xun Chen, risked being killed several times and went on diplomatic missions to the State of Chu, shamelessly asking Liu Bei for you.

In order to save you, I even lived in the State of Chu for half a year and suffered the pain of being humiliated.

What's more, in order to save you, he sold out the secrets of the Wei army and was charged with disloyalty.

But what about you, Yuan Tan? At this critical moment, in order to save your own life, you abandoned me and ignored my life and death?

Is this how you want to repay my loyalty to you?
At this moment, Xun Chen felt extremely disappointed and hopeless, and felt as if he had thrown his sincerity to waste.

Guan Ping was riding his horse to catch up with him, holding the bloody knife high in his hand.

"Yuan Benchu, oh Yuan Benchu, how can you not perish if you have a son like this?"

"I, Xun Chen, will leave first. I am on the road to the underworld, watching how your Yuan family will be destroyed—"

Xun Chen, who knew full well that he was about to die, looked at Yuan Tan's figure and let out a roar of grief and anger.

The blade chopped down and the head fell to the ground.

Yuan Tan, who was on the boat, watched Xun Chen being killed with his own eyes, and felt mixed emotions.

I feel both ashamed and helpless.

"Xun Chen, don't blame me. I have no other choice."

"You rescued me from Liu Bei just to make me compete with Yuan Shang for the throne. If I die saving you, wouldn't all your previous efforts be in vain?"

"Xun Youruo, your sacrifice will not be in vain!"

"I, Yuan Tan, swear that when I win the throne in the future, I will lead my Wei army to destroy Liu Bei and avenge you!"

Yuan Tan suppressed his shame, his expression turned into an expression of passion, and he swore secretly to the corpse of Xun Chen as he walked away.

The boat sailed away.

Less than 5,000 Wei troops were lucky enough to escape to the east bank.

Nearly 10,000 soldiers were either killed, wounded or surrendered and were abandoned on the west bank of the Yingshui River.

Guan Ping immediately held his sword across the shore, looking at the part of the Wei army that had escaped, with a hint of regret flashing across his brows.

"It's a pity that we were unable to completely wipe out the Wei army and still let several thousand of them escape."

"That fellow Yuan Tan is probably among them too."

"But just run away. If you can run away on the first day, can you run away on the fifteenth?"

"When my father captures Luoyang and cuts off the Yellow River, I wonder where you can escape to!"

Looking at the surviving enemy troops fleeing in a panic, Guan Ping smiled coldly.

On the shore, the victorious Chu soldiers waved their weapons, held up the enemy's heads, and showed off their power to the fleeing Wei army.

On the Yingshui River, the 5,000 surviving Wei soldiers were still frightened and fled silently to the east bank.

When the boat docked, the Wei soldiers rushed to disembark.

The moment Yuan Tan stepped onto the east bank, he finally felt at ease, with a sense of relief as if he had survived a calamity.

"It is impossible to cut off Guan Yu's retreat. Let's retreat back to Xuchang first and discuss the long-term plan with Chunyu Qiong and Ju Su."

"I'm afraid I can't do anything. I can only ask my father to divide the troops and stop Guan Yu..."

Yuan Tan muttered to himself, still thinking of a countermeasure in his mind.

A horse galloped from the east, interrupting his thoughts.

"My Lord, Xiao Fang led 30,000 Chu troops and suddenly arrived at the city of Xuchang."

"The situation in Xuchang City is critical. General Chunyu asks the eldest son to lead the army back to rescue as soon as possible!"

Yuan Tan was confused.

(End of this chapter)