Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 266: Leave the Head to Nai Gong
On the sixth day of October, Zhu Ling led his troops more than thirty miles away from Di County and sent out several groups of scout cavalry, but they fell into the sea and no news came back.

Zhu Ling asked his confidant to lead the most elite cavalry of his personal guards to investigate the enemy situation. However, only one man with disheveled hair, covered in blood, and an arrow stuck in his back, managed to return with all his strength to report the enemy situation.

When they learned that the Qingzhou army had set up camps for several miles, with flags waving in the wind and covering the sky, drums beating thousands of times, flags waving continuously, and shouts of killing shaking the sky, they realized that the Qingzhou army had set up camps for several miles, with flags waving in the wind and covering the sky,

There was even no end to the camp as far as the eye could see, so there were definitely more than 50,000 troops.

Zhu Ling was stunned when he heard this. He opened his mouth wide and was stunned for a few breaths before he reacted. He said with rapid breathing, "I was deceived by Gao Yuancai. Now I can't rescue him. I have no way to advance or retreat. I have no place to stand. If I break through and return to Ling County, it will not be a shame."

"I thought that with my past merits, Lord Yuan would be able to understand a little. Fei Ling just sat there and did nothing and was unwilling to save me, so I was really powerless."

"It would be better to retreat to Ling County and keep yourself useful, so that you can make contributions to the Yuan family in the future."

Zhu Ling pondered over it, and immediately wrote a letter, sealed it with mud, and sent several people on fast horses to take it to Xindu via the western road to quickly explain things to Yuan Shao.

We can't just let Gao Gan, Xu You and others deliver the letter for help to Yuan Gong while he doesn't take any action at all. Wouldn't that make people suspect that he has ulterior motives?

After quickly writing the letter and sending someone off, Zhu Ling immediately gave an order for the rear army to turn around quickly and rush back to Ling County at lightning speed. At this time, the rear army was only 37 miles away from Ling County. If they marched quickly, they would be able to return overnight.

Even if the Qingzhou army ambushed and defeated the vanguard army and then rushed over after hearing the news, they might not be able to catch up with their speed.

By the time the enemy arrived, their thousands of elite troops had already returned to the city safely.

"Ee-er! Ee-er!"

The soldiers checked their weapons, packed up their armor and equipment, and loaded them onto their horses, causing the horses to neigh incessantly.

Zhu Ling walked out of the tent and looked up at the sun setting in the west. The bright red sunset passed through the treetops in the forest and quietly spread across the ground.

He couldn't help but sigh and say, "This setting sun is so red... like a blood stain."

"General, the 4,000 auxiliary soldiers and 300 veteran soldiers in the front army are cutting down trees 12 miles to the north, preparing to take off their armor and set up camp to rest. They are closest to the Qingzhou army and may have been discovered by the enemy scouts. If we don't let them abandon their baggage and retreat, they will be hunted by Liu Xuande!"

An officer walked over quickly, bowed with an anxious look on his face.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ling remained silent for a while.

Patting the officer's shoulder, he sighed and said, "How could I not know this? But now the rear army is retreating, and the front army is still needed to assist it. Otherwise, if the Qingzhou army hears the news and attacks, both armies will be retreating, and we will inevitably be defeated. There is a danger of the army being destroyed and the general being killed. We must think about it."

"I feel sad for the three hundred soldiers who have served for so long, but now that there are tigers and leopards around us, we can only cut off our arms to survive, rather than surrender and die..."

"Tomorrow morning, I will send someone to order them to withdraw. At this moment, they still need to contribute their remaining strength."

Zhu Ling comforted the officer with words, and finally said with a sigh and a wry smile, stroking his beard.

The officer couldn't help but sigh after hearing this. This was all he could do.

Otherwise, both armies may not be able to retreat back to Ling County. Let's just hope nothing happens tonight.

Zhu Ling led his troops to retreat faster than when they came. Many things had to be abandoned along the way. They had to set out to return even if the sun was setting.

However, they never expected that after marching back for dozens of miles and seeing that they were only ten miles away from Ling County, the entire army had just let out a sigh of relief when they suddenly heard the sound of war drums.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The Qingzhou cavalry rushed out from the left and right sides with murderous intent, like wolves and tigers, and rushed forward like thunder.

"Kill!"

“Kill the enemy, kill the enemy!!”

"The envoy has ordered to capture and kill Zhu Ling. Capture and kill Zhu Ling! Do not let Zhu Ling escape!"

The soldiers of the Rui Chong Camp were very excited on the battlefield. They shouted loudly and rushed towards the flag of Yuan’s central army.

Xu Chu was wearing armor and riding a fine horse, holding a 10-foot-long spear and stabbing dozens of people along the way without feeling tired. Suddenly, he saw a general wearing fine armor under the banner of the enemy army, and he could not help but shouting excitedly: "The man in front of us, with a sword in hand and a horse in hand, must be Zhu Ling. Such a good head, I will behead him for you and present his head on the table."

He called on dozens of cavalrymen and rushed forward with great momentum and arrogance, not taking the three or four hundred cavalrymen in Zhu Ling's central army seriously at all.

Xu Chu swung the thick-handled horse lance in his hand very quickly, knocking all the enemy cavalry who came to stop him off their horses. At this moment, there was no time to stab them to death one by one, so he could only leave these people to the sword and shield infantry behind to be killed.

Fortunately, the armor was relatively strong and blocked the sporadic arrows. The front half of the horse also had light armor to block the arrows, so they were able to get closer and closer to the enemy's flag under the enemy's continuous arrow shooting. Wherever Xu Chu led his army through, all Yuan soldiers were killed.

As he passed by, he even snatched the enemy's shield with one hand, held it up in front of him to block the rain of arrows, and swung his long spear with extraordinary strength, almost as powerful as a thousand pounds when charging into the battle line.

Liu Bei stood on the steep slope and watched the battle. He could not help but exclaimed: "Zhongkang is armed with sharp weapons and armor, leading dozens of cavalry to charge into the battle without avoiding axes and halberds. He is diligent and brave, and can fight against ten thousand men. His bravery is not inferior to that of my third brother Yide. He is really a tiger general."

Dian Wei beside him was a little unhappy. He raised his hand and pointed at the battlefield and said, "Sir, if I were a cavalry general leading the army to charge, I would have defeated Zhu Ling's troops and captured and killed the enemy general..."

Liu Bei smiled and tried to comfort Dian Wei, saying, "Don't worry, Mr. Dian. According to the scouts, there are thousands of Yuan troops not far ahead. We only need to defeat the front and back armies and it will be easy to take Ling County. Are you afraid of not achieving anything?"

By eliminating Ling County, we can stop the invading enemy from Ganling, and the western part of Qingzhou can be completely stabilized.

……

Zhu Ling never dreamed that he would not encounter an ambush on the way there, but on the way back he would encounter the Qingzhou army riding horses and attacking from both sides. In particular, the dozens of cavalrymen in the lead were brave and good at fighting. They were very skilled in using horse lances. They could not only block the spears of their own cavalry, but also seize the shields with one hand.

The Yuan army soldiers were killed and their horses were thrown to the ground.

The martial arts of this group of cavalrymen had been honed for at least twenty years. They treated his central army like paper and broke through it with a slight poke. They were about to penetrate his formation.

Zhu Ling's face turned pale and he couldn't help swallowing.

I can’t stop it! I really can’t stop it!

He had no choice but to make a prompt decision and abandon the entire army and leave first as a sign of respect. These Qingzhou cavalrymen were ferocious and if they surrendered they would probably be beheaded on the spot, and he would present his head to ask for credit.

Seeing that the soldiers in the center were being defeated faster than he had imagined, they all ran back in chaos.

Zhu Ling shouted to the guards beside him: "Retreat, retreat quickly!"

He squeezed his horse's belly and rushed in the opposite direction. In a few breaths, he surpassed many fleeing soldiers. Even if he knocked people down and stepped on them, he did not look back, because the strong man was chasing him from behind, shouting: "Zhu Ling, you dog thief, don't run away, leave your head to Nai Gong!"

(End of this chapter)