Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 503 497. Returning in Defeat
"Not good, it seems that Da Sima has also fallen into the trap."

Le Chen and Zhang Hu were at the innermost part and could naturally sense the situation outside. The Han army's offensive had just slowed down, but it was followed by a more fierce offensive.

The rain of arrows on the hillside, which had been relatively mild, suddenly became fierce, leaving the Wei soldiers with nowhere to hide. Every minute and every second, a Wei soldier was shot and fell down. They were like animals trapped in a cage and could only pray for mercy from the people outside the cage.

"No, we can't go on like this, we have to fight our way out, otherwise both of us will die here today!"

Le Chen watched as the number of his men, whose casualties were increasing and had now dropped to three thousand, gritted his teeth and roared at Zhang Hu beside him.

"it is good!"

Zhang Hu responded. Even he could see that the situation was extremely urgent, so he didn't have time to get to the bottom of why things had turned out like this. The most urgent thing was to escape.

"Brothers, Da Sima is waiting for us outside! Follow me to fight our way out of the encirclement and join Da Sima!"

Le Chen raised his arms and shouted, which cheered up the tired Wei soldiers who had been fighting for a long time. Although they didn't know the situation outside, the fact that Cao Xiu had led his troops to come was enough to cheer them up.

Although Zhang Hu and Le Chen are young, they can be said to be brave generals. Although this Han army based on Jiangdong people is no longer what it used to be, its weapons and equipment are definitely inferior to those of the Jingzhou army. Moreover, this is only a detachment, so it is common sense that they do not have any advanced weapons.

In addition, among the Han troops currently surrounding Zhang Hu and Le Chen, only Zhu Huan could be called a general. It was presumptuous of the other generals to want to stop Zhang and Le. Some junior officers who stepped forward to stop them were no match for the two men at all.

Although the two men were not as skilled in martial arts as their father, they were not something these inferior minions could challenge. With the two leading the way, they actually created a gap in the Han army's encirclement.

"General Zhu, the Wei troops in the encirclement are trying to break out! We brothers can't stop them!"

The messengers had collected information about what was happening on the battlefield and reported it to Zhu Huan. Zhu Huan was also under great pressure at this time. Like Zhang and Le, his troops were also under attack from both sides, and he was already trying his best to hold on.

Fortunately, it is the Han army now. If it was the Wu army before, they would definitely not dare to do this. Apart from anything else, Zhu Huan’s troops in this position would definitely be defeated, and all efforts would be in vain.

"Mobilize the crossbowmen. Even if we can't kill all of them, we must at least take a piece of their flesh."

Zhu Huan thought about it. Now the frontal battlefield with Cao Xiu was under great pressure. In fact, Zhu Huan was unable to deal with Zhang and Le's actions. But Zhu Huan was not happy to let them go. Fortunately, there were many archers on the mountains on both sides. It would be profitable to let them collect some tolls.

"Shoot the enemy general!"

The Han army archers on the hillside saw Zhu Huan's command flag waving in the firelight and immediately took action. The sparse rain of arrows immediately focused on Zhang Hu and Le Chen in the vanguard.

At this time, the two men broke out of the encirclement of the Han army and came to the empty area between the two Han armies. As a result, a rain of arrows came from the mountain and shot at them. The two men hurriedly waved their spears and swords to block, but the soldiers who were traveling with them did not have such skills and were shot down by the Han army again.

"Hold on! We'll be out soon!"

Le Chen gritted his teeth, his heart bleeding. Although these Wei soldiers were not the most elite, they were also very capable. Now, two thousand of them were killed in less than an hour. It was really a blow to Le Chen, a young general who had just started out. "Swoosh! Xiluolu!"

Although Zhang Hu on the side wielded his spear like the wind and knocked down most of the arrows shot at him, there was still a loophole. A slightly deviated crossbow arrow slipped past the side of his spear and hit the leg of the warhorse under his crotch.

The warhorse was suddenly hit by an arrow, and a sharp pain came from its leg. As a human, you would probably scream in pain, let alone this brainless beast? The warhorse wailed, stood up, and threw Zhang Hu, who was still waving his hands vigorously on the horse's back, off the horse.

"Ahu!"

When Le Chen saw Zhang Hu fall off his horse, his eyes were bloodshot. The two had been good friends since childhood because of their fathers. They often practiced martial arts together and even joined the army at the same time. Although they were not brothers, they were as close as brothers. Le Chen knew that if Zhang Hu was trapped here at this time, even if he would not die in battle, he would definitely become a prisoner of the Han army.

So Le Chen turned his horse around and rode towards Zhang Hu without saying a word. Even though he was shot in the back by an arrow, he put Zhang Hu, who was lying on the ground with four or five arrows and had fainted, back on his horse and continued to kill his way out.

"Grand Marshal, we have fallen into a trap. There are at least 20,000 Han troops surrounding us. We were suddenly attacked and are no longer able to hold on."

Chang Diao looked terrified. He had no idea what was going on and thought that Cao Xiu had fooled him.

Cao Xiu also had a grim expression on his face, because he had a special plan in reserve. He took a look at the situation in the valley, and saw flames shooting up into the sky and torches everywhere. It looked like the main force of the Han army had all been dispatched. How could he have imagined that the Han army still had spare strength?

"Retreat, retreat back to Hefei!"

Cao Xiu glared at Zhu Huan, who was still commanding the Han army, and could only order a withdrawal.

"Chang Diao, you and Zhuge Qian will be the vanguard and tear open a gap in the Han army's defense line so that our army can retreat!"

Cao Xiu gave orders to Chang Diao who was beside him, and Chang Diao took Zhuge Qian to lead the troops.

Originally, the Wei army could not distinguish the number of Han troops in the dark night, and the Han army had the advantage of surprise attacks and encirclement from both sides. Therefore, the Wei army fought for a whole night. Although they finally escaped, they suffered heavy losses. Only less than 2,000 people were left of the 5,000 vanguards of Zhang Hu and Le Chen, with more than half of them killed.

The nearly 30,000 troops led by Cao Xiu also suffered over 10,000 casualties. In addition, the road was not visible in the dark, and many Wei soldiers lost their way and disappeared.

Finally, Cao Xiu made a statistic and found that there were 35,000 troops when they left the city last night, and less than 20,000 when they came back. Together with Cao Tai who was guarding the city, only 25,000 people were left out of the 40,000-strong army, a loss of more than 40%.

The Wei army, which originally had a similar number of troops as the Han army, now became the one with inferior military strength. If they did not transfer troops from Guangling, they would probably have to wait for Luoyang to send troops to rescue Hefei from danger.

However, Cao Xiu did not have high expectations for Luoyang. The excess of power was always bloody. Moreover, Cao Pi died suddenly. It would be considered a light punishment if his sons were not beaten to a pulp. The probability of them paying attention to him was too low.

(End of this chapter)