Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 99 Guo Tu depends on you

In the first year of Xingping, on March 29th, the sky was overcast and then cleared up.

Before retreating, Liu Bei pretended to withdraw his troops to lure Wen Chou to build a bridge in the distance, and dispatched thirty or forty scout cavalry to cross the river to investigate the situation.

Unexpectedly, not long after crossing the river, they ran into Taishi Ci's fifty cavalrymen on patrol. A fierce battle ensued, leaving corpses all over the ground, and only a few people were left fleeing in panic.

Liu Bei divided the 200 cavalry into four teams and marched them along the river bank, achieving success twice on the same day.

After hearing the news, Liu Bei smiled and said, "We can withdraw our troops tomorrow."

Wen Chou learned that the main force of the Qingzhou army was on the opposite bank. Liu Xuande neither besieged Yecheng again nor needed to rush his troops across the river for a decisive battle.

To be honest, he felt a little daunted and frightened by Liu Bei, and was a little afraid that he would fall into a trap.

If the Huns had not crossed the river first this time, he might have followed suit and followed in Yan Liang's footsteps.

When Wen Chou heard that the Xiongnu nobles were killed by two hundred cavalrymen, a cold sweat broke out on his back.

If Qu Yi had not sent a scout to bring news that the military situation was urgent and required an immediate reply, he would have personally sent the Chanyu's son over.

Wen Chou reminded himself in his heart that he must be cautious when facing Liu Xuande in front of the enemy. This man's fighting style is completely different from Gongsun Zan who relied on his large number of cavalry to attack recklessly. Instead, he was good at using the momentum to win when fighting in front of the enemy. He was able to observe the opponent's weaknesses and use the few to defeat the many and break the army's formation.

After thinking for a moment, I realized that when facing such an enemy commander, I should be cautious and defend first and then attack, and never give the enemy a chance to take advantage.

Thinking of the latter, the thick-bearded Wen Chou suddenly came to his senses, frowned, put down the wine cup heavily, gritted his teeth and said to himself: "I am a cavalry general. If I hear the enemy's whereabouts, I will be cautious and try to get close. How can I lead the cavalry under my command?"

The importance of cavalry lies in charging at the enemy. If even the commander is restrained, how can the battle be fought?

Liu Bei was unaware that Wen Chou was worried on the other side of the river. He was making arrangements for retreat. In this battle, he seized nearly 170,000 hu of millet from Yuan's army. Including the troops that had been defeated by Yan Liang before, a total of 430,000 hu of millet were captured, more than 3,800 bows, 95,000 arrows, 12,400 ring-handled swords, and 4,300 sets of armor.

Eight hundred Hun horses were captured, as well as one thousand six hundred and twenty-seven cattle, sheep, donkeys, mules and other livestock.

Unfortunately, many livestock were frightened by the cavalry and scattered all over the mountains and plains. There were not enough people to capture them, and the risk of having enemy troops nearby was too great, so Liu Bei only ordered people to gather the livestock that remained nearby.

Once the numbers were counted, he was surprised enough.

Although the surrendered Huns were not killed, their thumbs were cut off so that they could not bend the bow, and they were turned into slaves to raise livestock.

Liu Bei also inquired about the more than one hundred women rescued from the Xiongnu nobles and learned that most of them were from Taiyuan, Shangdang, Hedong and Henei, and had been plundered and harmed by the Xiongnu for several months at the shortest and several years at the longest.

They are often sold or given away in the tribe.

Their elder relatives, husbands, and children were shot to death by the Huns long ago, and they have been living in hiding until now, enduring the humiliation.

When Liu Bei listened to them talk about their experiences, it was as if they were telling other people's stories. Their tones were as dry as withered wood and their hearts were as dead as despair.

Liu Bei sat there in silence, then called over the military officers and said, "Drag all the Huns out of the camp and kill them."

"Yes!" The military officer nodded and left as ordered.

"General, do you want to avenge us?" a woman asked.

Liu Bei smiled bitterly and said, "I'm ashamed. I originally wanted to use the Xiongnu surrendered soldiers to herd cattle and sheep for me, but after hearing about your plight, it is difficult for people with good intentions in the world to remain indifferent. I will repay you first for the Liu family."

Some women were surprised. It was not that there were no officials from the imperial court who had visited the Xiongnu tribe, but when they saw the plight of these women, they turned a blind eye.

Someone secretly ran to inform the officials to save them, but they reported it to the Huns, resulting in several women being whipped to death.

There were also senior officials who advised them to consider the overall situation and surrender to the Xiongnu. That's right, no one would care about the lives of hundreds of women, they were just women.

They were the only ones left after hundreds of people were persecuted to death in the Xiongnu tribe...

But now General Liu only heard what they said, and was not willing to listen to one side of the story and give up his own interests to kill the Huns, as those officials had seen them being wantonly humiliated and toyed with in the Huns tribe.

It made them want to cry, as if something in their hearts was broken.

His expression was no longer dull, and the women burst into tears, wailing loudly and weeping bitterly.

I cried for a long time.

Many women wept and knelt down. Some explained, "General, you may not know that after being captured by the Xiongnu tribe, we gradually learned how to raise cattle and sheep. We have received great kindness but cannot repay it. We can raise livestock for General Liu and be his slaves to repay his kindness."

Liu Bei helped them up, and facing the women's expectant gazes, he could only nod in agreement.

He ordered the military officers to dress the rescued women as men and place them in the middle of the team when they retreated. Looking at their backs, he sighed slightly in his heart.

Then Liu Bei turned around and cursed: "What a damn official and chaotic times! When I occupy Jizhou and Bingzhou, don't ask me to find out who sent envoys to the Xiongnu tribe and flattered the Xiongnu and sold out our own people. If I don't pull you out and punish you, I will write my name Liu backwards."

……

At dawn on the morning of March 30th, the army raised its flag and retreated.

Baggage and food carts were transported one after another by auxiliary soldiers along the way, and the soldiers took turns putting on armor and keeping vigilant.

The scouts were scattered everywhere, and Liu Bei led his personal cavalry to observe the movements of Yuan's army on a high slope. They saw that Wen Chou's troops on the other side of the river had not been discovered yet.

Zhang Fei had already rushed to the front with his Shengshe Battalion to provide support, allowing Liu Bei to breathe a sigh of relief and relax a little.

Withdrawal has always been a big problem, so Guan Yu was ordered to lead his assistants to set out at night, and then slowly retreat at dawn to guard against a surprise attack by Yuan's army.

They retreated across the Huan River safely and waited for the wooden bridge to be burned.

Liu Bei finally felt relieved and planned to station his troops in Neihuang County to rest for two days.

At this moment, Wen Chou heard that the situation had changed, so he led his troops across the Huan River and returned to his original position. He looked at Yuan’s camp being burned by the Qingzhou army in silence.

This was the camp he had carefully built before, but he did not expect it to be lost inexplicably. If the camp was still in the hands of the guards at that time, he would definitely dare to lead his troops across the river and attack Liu Xuande from both sides.

Pity……

The battle ended in confusion, and I didn't know how to explain it to Yuan Gong when I returned to Yecheng. If it weren't for Guo Tu's advice and suggestions, the army would not have been stationed in Ganling first and then hastily withdrawn south to Weijun.

The military orders received along the way were either to defend this or to attack that.

Wen Chou thought: "Someone must be responsible for this battle. Without Lord Guo, no one will be able to bear the defeat of Jizhou."

Wasn't it that the reason why he and Qu Yi's march was in vain was due to the repeated misjudgments of Yuan Gong's staff and clerks?

Yuan Shao did not expect that as soon as Liu Bei led his troops to retreat, undercurrents began to surge among the scholars in Jizhou.

When a war is lost, someone is bound to suffer, and no one wants to be the one to suffer. Guo Tu is Yuan Gong's confidant, and who else but him can take on this important task?

(End of this chapter)