People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 277 Head Iron
kill!

Yan Liang and Wen Chou shouted together. They led 20,000 of Yuan's most elite troops to attack the Yellow Turbans' solid defense line. Both sides were equipped with fully armed and armored warriors. Once they met, they fought fiercely.

When the elite troops of Yuan's army put on heavy armor, the Yellow Turbans that once frightened them did not seem so scary anymore.

Although the opponent is still strong enough to put him under great pressure, it is at least not as despairing as before. His own battle line will not be easily torn apart by the opponent, and he can even continue to attack the opponent's defense line.

The Yellow Turbans were a semi-professional army with systematic training, but these 20,000 elite soldiers were all elite veterans selected from the main army. Both sides fought in armor, and after a fierce battle, they were indeed evenly matched.

"Yuan Shao is still quite capable. If any other opponent were to be replaced by an army of 20,000, it would definitely be an overwhelming force." Xu Chen held up a telescope on the general's platform and saw the situation on the front line. He couldn't help but sigh.

Twenty thousand sets of armor may not sound like a big deal, but with the current smelting level of the Han Dynasty, the difficulty is much greater than imagined.

Xuan Xia has been able to achieve what it has today because its smelting technology has achieved a revolutionary leap, which has enabled the relative freedom of iron tools.

Yuan Shao was at best a local warlord. He must have used all his strength to squeeze out such resources. If it were in the past, no one would have been able to mobilize an armored army of this scale unless the Han court could gather the strength of the entire country to build one.

"My lord, don't worry. The enemy's elite troops are indeed capable of fighting, but after all, there are only 20,000 of them. They are far from being comparable to our army. They can fight against us for a while now, but they will definitely be exhausted in future battles!"

"That makes sense. I'm afraid General Lu Ping has made the same judgment. The enemy's elite offensive is quite powerful, but our front is very stable. General Lu Ping's command is not panicked at all. We can see that our left and right wings have begun to press forward and encircle them. The situation should change soon."

Ju Shou and Xun Chen talked to each other, analyzing the situation on the battlefield.

Compared to Ju Su's calmness, Xun Chen had a lot of emotions. When he was in Yuan Shao's camp, facing the Yellow Turbans, he could only feel pressure and helplessness. But now that his identity has changed, and he looks at others from Xuan Xia's perspective, he feels suddenly enlightened.

It turns out this is what it feels like to be powerful. You don’t have to rack your brains to come up with any conspiracies or tricks. You just need to take steady steps and victory will come naturally.

Just like the battlefield in front of us, in the face of absolute strength, there is no room for any strategy at all, and the one who is supposed to win will naturally win.

If you can't beat them, just join them. This is indeed a relatively comfortable approach.

Not long after, the situation on the battlefield began to change just as the two of them had judged. As the fighting continued, Yuan's elite legions began to slowly be unable to hold on. In comparison, the Yellow Turbans still had more strength.

However, when Yuan's army just showed signs of decline, the two armies of Gao Lan and Zhang He in the rear of Yuan's army also moved, apparently to replenish their combat power and reverse the situation.

"Wang Dang!" Xu Chen spoke without even putting down the telescope.

Wang Dang understood and said, "I am here!"

Xu Chen said: "If the enemy moves, you can lead another 40,000 troops to reinforce. I have 10,000 central troops here, which is enough to protect the rear!"

"Yes!" Wang Dang had long been unable to contain himself. He was delighted to hear that the battle had begun and he immediately took the order and left.

In this way, the warring parties once again poured their strength into the battlefield, and the scale of the battle became increasingly larger.

In terms of military strength, it was obvious that Yuan Shao invested more force, but the final result was completely the opposite.

As the battle continued, the Yellow Turbans, who had fewer troops, began to gain the upper hand more quickly. The more Yuan's army increased its forces, the more difficult it became.

However, this is not something strange. The overall quality of the Yellow Turbans far exceeds that of Yuan's army. Before, both sides had few troops, and Yuan's elite troops could still hold out, making the difference in combat power not that big. But as the number of troops gradually increased, the gap could no longer be concealed.

Fortunately for Yuan’s army, although the Yellow Turbans were powerful, they were not capable of crushing them all at once.

Yuan's army was at a disadvantage on the battlefield, but was still able to hold its ground without any signs of defeat. However, the situation was already unfavorable, so there was no need for Yuan's army to continue fighting. The casualties on both sides were disproportionate, and continuing to fight would only lead to greater losses.

Not long after, as Yuan's army gave the signal to retreat, Zhang He and Gao Lan began to organize the army to retreat slowly. With the help of the elite troops in front, they finally returned to the camp safely.

At this point, the battle was over, and both sides had a clear understanding of each other's combat effectiveness. Although there was no result after such a big battle, Yuan Shao was still satisfied. At least his side's performance in this battle was quite impressive, and they were only slightly weaker than the Yellow Turbans, which was acceptable.

"After this battle, our army has demonstrated sufficient combat power. The Yellow Turbans should understand that even if they are stronger, it will not be easy to defeat us in one fell swoop, especially since Yuan Shu is still watching us covetously. It is wise to retreat when faced with difficulties."

After the war, Tian Feng immediately made a judgment that the greatest value of this battle was to demonstrate strength.

If the cost and risk of victory were too high, the Yellow Turbans would have no reason to continue.

At the moment, Yuan Shao had no other ideas at all. He just wanted to send the Yellow Turbans away first to stabilize his own territory, and then slowly plan to take back the Jizhou counties.

If the Yellow Turbans gave up, that would obviously be something he would be happy to see.

"Xu Chen had better quit while he's ahead. If you really push me to the limit, I won't care about letting Yuan Shu take advantage. No one will be happy then!"

Yuan Shao gritted his teeth and spoke fiercely, but his fierceness seemed somewhat impotent and furious.

If it weren't for Xuan Xia, this era should have belonged to him. As long as he slowly conquered the four states of Qing, You, Bing and Ji, he would naturally have the capital to dominate the world.

But because of Xuan Xia who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the route that he had planned long ago was abruptly interrupted.

Now, don’t even think about coveting Youzhou. Others are riding on your face and you are the one getting beaten.

Not long after, the casualties after the war were reported. After this battle, there were more than 2,000 casualties. However, the number of serious injuries and deaths this time was much smaller. This was one of the few things that made Yuan Shao a little happy.

On the battlefield, the protective function of armor is self-evident. With 20,000 armored soldiers, the outcome of the battle will immediately be different.

This made Yuan Shao sigh: "I have already exhausted all my strength to get 20,000 sets of armor. It is hard to imagine how the Yellow Turbans could form an armored corps of this scale."

Guo Tu took over at the right time, but he sighed as soon as he opened his mouth: "I have sent spies to disguise themselves as civilians to move into Youzhou to spy, but Xuanxia has always been guarding these technologies tightly. Even if spies can sneak into those workshops, they are almost isolated from the outside world. Until now, no useful technology has been stolen."

Upon hearing this, Shen Pei pondered and said, "There is no such thing as a wall that is impenetrable. No matter how secretive Xuan Xia is, these technologies will eventually leak out. As long as we wait patiently, there will be results."

Yuan Shao nodded, but he was not really stupid. It would be foolish to just rely on stealing technology. "After this battle, we will recruit Jizhou's craftsmen to study technology. As long as they can increase the output of gold and iron, they will be rewarded with a large sum of money. I don't believe that there will be no results!"

When everyone heard this, they all praised him for being wise.

However, this matter was just an episode. For Yuan Jun, if he couldn't win this battle, everything else would be meaningless.

They all expected the Yellow Turbans to retreat, but the result was not what they expected.

Even though the Yellow Turbans felt the difficulty of fighting in this battle, they had no intention of retreating, but instead set up camp directly on the spot.

When seeing this scene, Yuan Jun’s men realized that the Yellow Turbans were determined to continue fighting them to the death.

Although Yuan Shao was furious, he had no other options.

Although he didn't know where the Yellow Turbans got the confidence to continue to be stubborn in this situation, since the other party had made their choice, he could only accept it. Now all the initiative was in the hands of the Yellow Turbans.

In the following period, the Yellow Turbans did not relax their offensive intensity at all, and they launched attacks against Yuan's army almost every day. Even though Yuan's army defended themselves strictly and used their utmost to resist the attacks, and the Yellow Turbans gained little, the Yellow Turbans still continued their high-intensity attacks.

The battle continued, and the two sides fought for nearly half a month. Yuan's army's fighting spirit was already beyond expectations, but it was also being worn down by the Yellow Turbans.

Half a month later, the Yellow Turbans launched another large-scale attack, and this time, Yuan's army finally collapsed under the long-term high pressure.

(End of this chapter)