People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 213 Both sides suffer losses
The bet was lost!
Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Zhang He all had this idea.

The strength of the Yellow Turbans once again exceeded their expectations. The officers and soldiers gathered all their strength to encircle and suppress the Yellow Turbans' thousands of light-armored troops, but they were unable to do anything.

Xiahou Dun, Zhao Yun and Guan Yu led the army separately, which was like three sharp knives. The soldiers also burst out with extraordinary combat effectiveness and fought together with absolute superior forces.

This kind of offensive is the best they can do, it is very powerful. If they were not sure about it, they would not make this gamble.

But the final result was not satisfactory, which made the three of them silent.

If they fail to achieve their combat objectives within this limited time window, all their chips will be lost.

When they looked into the distance, they saw that the bulky heavy-armored battalion of the Yellow Turbans was getting closer and closer, and the army behind them was also pressing forward, which meant that the balance of the battlefield was about to be broken again.

"Prepare to withdraw your troops, we can't fight anymore!" Cao Cao said in a deep voice.

Zhang He sighed, "We have lost this battle. Our army has no more strength to deal with the Yellow Turbans. The fall of Zhongshan and Changshan counties is inevitable."

Liu Bei clenched his fists. He wanted to say something to encourage Cao Cao and Zhang He to keep fighting, but rationally, he knew that continuing to fight would only result in greater losses for their side. With the current strength of their officers and soldiers, they were no match for the Yellow Turbans.

This time, the 30,000-strong army came to stop the Yellow Turbans, but faced a great defeat on the second day of the battle. This was something Liu Bei had never expected.

But in fact, this is an inevitable result. They can only choose this opportunity to take a big gamble. Only in this way can they have a little hope of turning the tables. Otherwise, even if the war is dragged on for five or ten days, it is doomed to end in a miserable defeat.

But in the end, they lost the bet.

As the Yellow Turbans' rear army approached, Cao Cao and Zhang He had no choice but to order a retreat. However, now that the two armies were already entangled, it was even more difficult to retreat in this situation. To be precise, this should be called a retreat.

Cao Cao and Zhang He were of course well aware of this, and they were prepared to pay a huge price. This was a gamble they had to make.

All we can do now is to reduce the damage as much as possible and retain as many manpower as possible.

Zhang He and Cao Cao chose the timing very accurately. Before most of the Yellow Turbans' rear troops joined the battlefield, they quickly challenged each other's armies. The encirclement operation gradually turned into alternating blocking, adjusting the formation of the entire army in a relatively stable posture to prepare for retreat.

However, the Yellow Turbans would obviously not let them achieve their goal easily. Soon the army in the rear completed the reunion and began to cooperate with the light and heavy troops. One side engaged in entangled pursuit while the other side provided cover and fighting, just like two swords that kept falling alternately and quickly mincing meat.

This kind of precise and continuous coordinated operations soon made the officers and soldiers breathless.

Only Zhao Yun, Xiahou Dun and Guan Yu, each leading their elite troops to fight bravely, were able to barely maintain the current situation. However, everyone could see that under the impact of the elite troops, they were becoming increasingly struggling.

On the local battlefield, Zhao Yun, wearing silver armor, led his elite troops in a fierce battle with the Yellow Turbans in front of him.

The Yellow Turbans' army is very powerful, and the combat effectiveness of Zhao Yun and his elite troops should not be underestimated.

What is tested on the macro battlefield is the average quality of the legions of both sides, but on such a local battlefield, Zhao Yun and his men will not be much weaker than the Yellow Turbans.

The two sides fought back and forth, with casualties and screams from time to time, but for a long time neither could do anything to the other. Even Zhao Yun, with his bravery and elite troops, was able to slightly suppress the Yellow Turbans.

At this time, Zhao Yun was focused and put all his energy into fighting. He tried his best and just wanted to defeat all the enemies in front of him.

If he failed in the battle here, his hometown Changshan would fall to the Yellow Turbans. He couldn't imagine what the consequences would be. For others, repelling the Yellow Turbans might just be obeying military orders, but for Zhao Yun it was actually defending his hometown.

However, the enemy was too strong, much stronger than he had imagined.

Only after fighting them personally did he understand why Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu were both killed by the Yellow Turbans before they could wait for him to surrender. It was truly suffocating to face such a powerful enemy.

No matter how bravely they fight, no matter how they charge and attack, the Yellow Turbans in front of them will always be an insurmountable wall.

When he once faced the Yellow Turbans of the Five Elements Mountain in Changshan, he only needed to charge a few times to kill them all. But when facing these Yellow Turbans in front of him, all he could feel was powerlessness!

After such a high-intensity battle, Zhao Yun became increasingly tired, but he had no choice but to continue fighting with all his strength.

With the belief of defending his hometown, he fought more and more bravely, and unknowingly felt a little crazy in battle. He led his troops to force the Yellow Turbans in front of him to retreat.

Such an extreme burst of combat power allowed him to go against the trend in some areas.

At this moment, an excited-looking sword and shield soldier approached from the opposite Yellow Turban position. Looking at the brave Zhao Yun, he did not feel afraid, but was eager to try.

What a strong guy, you are worthy of being my opponent! Taishi Ci simply threw away his big shield, holding the knife in both hands and rushed forward. His approach immediately aroused Zhao Yun's vigilance, and soon a silver spear was swung over, but Taishi Ci was agile and dodged the attack with just a dip, then raised his long knife and chopped Zhao Yun's chest and abdomen.

The crisis of death was sweeping over Zhao Yun, and all the hairs on his body stood up. At this critical moment, he managed to twist his body to the side and narrowly avoided it.

Then he drew back the gun with an ultimate move, as graceful and invisible as a spirit snake.

Taishi Ci had no way to avoid it and could only change the direction of his sword. For a moment, sparks of metal and iron flew from the collision of swords and spears. Both of them felt their bodies being shaken by the huge force, and the knuckles of their palms even burst open.

This soldier is so strong!
It’s really amazing and satisfying!
The two men were each shocked and took a step back. As they exchanged glances, they were both surprised at the other's strength, but Zhao Yun felt even heavier in his heart.

Originally, he was able to go against the trend mostly by relying on his own bravery, but now that the other side also has masters of battle formations, it would be difficult to replicate his previous heroic and unparalleled situation.

The soldiers around them were fighting on their own, which gave them a relatively independent small battlefield.

The two men narrowed their eyes, then held their swords and guns as if ready to attack, both of them were extremely alert, as a single mistake in a duel between two masters could result in the loss of one's life.

After a few tentative steps, they started fighting again. Although some soldiers from the surrounding areas would sneak in from time to time, they were quickly blocked by the enemy soldiers and could not affect the fight between the two.

Their attacks, both with guns and swords, were fierce and each attack was full of caution. After several rounds, no one could do anything to anyone.

But after this tentative confrontation, their fighting became more and more intense as time went on, and soon wounds began to appear on both of their bodies.

However, although they can inflict damage to each other, it is difficult for them to kill with one blow.

The further they fought, the more difficult it became for Taishi Ci.

Damn, I'm still not very good at using a knife.
Another fight broke out. Taishi Ci looked at the wound on his arm caused by the silver spear and began to complain in his heart.

However, for a master like him, he quickly adjusted his mentality and continued to kill Zhao Yun. As the fight lasted longer, his weakness became more and more magnified, and he gradually showed signs of being exhausted by Zhao Yun's attack.

If he continued like this, it was not impossible that he would die at the hands of Zhao Yun.

However, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed dramatically, and this change quickly spread to every corner of the battlefield.

As the battle became more intense, the Yellow Turbans' high-intensity attack finally defeated the officers and soldiers. The first to collapse was Cao Cao's army led by Xiahou Dun. Suddenly, Cao Cao's army fled. This kind of fleeing was extremely deadly in a war because it could instantly shake the morale of the army and rapidly amplify the momentum of the fleeing.

Soon the entire army of officers and soldiers seemed to be infected and began to collapse. They could no longer maintain their formation, and no matter how hard the officers scolded them, the soldiers fled uncontrollably.

Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Zhang He all looked terrified. The thing they were most worried about had happened. It was redundant to say anything at this time. They could only organize their troops as best as possible and start to flee.

In the chaos, Cao Cao quickly found the "Cao" flag and then successfully reunited with Xiahou Dun.

When Cao Cao looked at the troops led by Xiahou Dun and saw that there were only more than 5,000 men left, he felt a pang of pain. However, he would not blame Xiahou Dun for anything, because he knew that these were the troops that Xiahou Dun had tried his best to preserve.

"The fall of Changshan and Zhongshan is a foregone conclusion. We can't care less and need to escape from here quickly!" Cao Cao quickly gave the order.

Xiahou Dun glanced at the chaotic battlefield around him and did not see much movement. He nodded and began to order the entire army to speed up their escape. The 5,000-strong army could barely maintain its formation under such circumstances. The chaotic battlefield became their cover to some extent, and eventually allowed them to escape with most of their troops.

However, the remaining army was not so lucky and was soon surrounded and strangled by the Yellow Turbans one by one. After the situation became clear, large numbers of officers and soldiers began to surrender.

This also affected the battlefield here for Zhao Yun. Soon Zhao Yun felt the pressure around him suddenly increase. When he came to his senses, the situation was already hopeless.

Seeing the situation like this, Zhao Yun was disheartened. He knew that Changshan would definitely fall into the hands of the Yellow Turbans. He only hated that he was so brave but could not change the situation.

Despite this, he was unwilling to surrender, so he made up his mind to fight to the death with Taishi Ci.

The two sides fought again, but this time Zhao Yun was like a madman. He was willing to exchange his life for Taishi Ci's. He risked the wound of a knife piercing his abdomen and stabbed Taishi Ci in the abdomen with a spear.

Both of them were so angry that their eyes turned red. Even so, they completely ignored their injuries and each of them punched out, knocking the other unconscious.

The battle ended when they fell to the ground.

(End of this chapter)