Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 141 Hidden Dragon in the Abyss
"Kill the thief!"

Guan Yu shouted and spurred his horse to give chase.

The black horse beneath him was quite tall, with a crescent-shaped white spot on its forehead—this was Yu Gong, the horse named by Qian Zhao, a wedding gift Guan Yu received.

This Jade Bow was not actually the best warhorse; its strengths and weaknesses were both quite obvious.

Its advantages are its height, excellent load-bearing capacity and explosive power at startup, boldness, and strong impact force.

Its drawbacks are poor stamina and ability to run long distances. It also cannot be allowed to eat grass freely, requiring very high standards of care. Moreover, this is a stallion with a bad temper—Han Dynasty was short of horses, and in order to breed them as much as possible and to maintain the courage of warhorses, good horses were not castrated, which caused a lot of trouble during their mating season…

But this horse is very suitable for Guan Yu.

With his long legs and quick speed, Guan Yu caught up with Wen Ze in just three strides, and then brought his sword down.

The head flew off, and the body fell to the ground.

For Guan Yu, a warhorse with strong explosive power was enough; as long as he could catch up...

At the same time, the soldiers fired the crossbow bolts they had prepared at the group of soldiers.

The soldiers were about to surround and kill Guan Yu when more than a dozen of them were shot down in an instant.

Guan Yu, with his thick armor and fast horse, was impossible to surround. Any soldier who got close to him would be cut down with a single blow, leaving no one alive.

After killing several people in succession, Guan Yu even took the time to use the tip of his sword to lift Wen Ze's head and throw it among the soldiers.

Then, with a roar, he spurred his jade bow to charge out from among the soldiers of Naqu, and with his long sword, he slashed two men in quick succession, decapitating them both with a single blow!

This muscular man looked so fierce that the soldiers panicked and turned to flee in terror.

Guan Yu brandished his sword and led his troops forward. He no longer relied on his fast horse to chase and kill the soldiers. Instead, he led his troops to follow behind them, slowed down his horses, and continued to shout "Kill the traitors!"

The soldiers under his command shouted loudly, which made the group of soldiers fleeing in front run even more urgently.

Moreover, the deserters did not scatter, but instead fled together towards Ji County.

This Wen Ze only led a scout vanguard, just like Guan Yu, who led a small force to scout ahead, with the main force following behind.

However, Guan Yu didn't care about the main force. Since the battle had turned into an encounter, he had to continue fighting. It would be a waste to give up this situation of pursuing and fleeing.

Although Guan Yu's forces were small, there were deserters clearing the way ahead. If he could chase after those deserters and break up the enemy's main force, he might be able to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

Sure enough, not long after, a marching army appeared before Guan Yu, also bearing Liu Wei's banner.

The deserters did not stop and continued running towards the group, but at this moment, a group of archers stepped forward at the front of the main force and shot arrows at them without any regard for the consequences.

Those deserters who ran ahead were naturally the ones who were shot down.

After more than a dozen men were shot down, the deserters dispersed and fled to the sides of the main force, failing to create a situation where they could chase the fleeing soldiers and break through the enemy lines.

"Scatter and retreat!"

Seeing that the enemy was quite ruthless and was firing indiscriminately, one of Guan Yu's men was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground. Guan Yu reined in his horse with some regret and raised his sword to stop his men.

The squads quickly dispersed, swords and shields in front, and retreated step by step facing the enemy.

The enemy forces are also adjusting, shifting from marching formations to combat formations.

Guan Yu slowly retreated several hundred paces away, without regrouping his troops, who remained scattered in units of five.

The enemy force was quite large, appearing to number around two thousand, but they were not very well organized.

Although they quickly split into several teams, they were like piles of lumps, clearly not a regular army, and not under each other's command.

However, these ragtag troops were not badly equipped; at least half of them were equipped with leather armor, and a small number even wore iron armor.

Guan Yu retreated again, and a man in scale armor emerged from the opposite side, surrounded by over a hundred armored soldiers, and led him to the front of the formation. Behind him, someone displayed a banner that read "Guo, Governor of Youzhou"—Guan Yu hadn't seen the governor's banner before; it only appeared after the defeated army fled into the enemy's main force...

It seems that the commander of the army is Guo Xun, a governor who shouldn't be in charge of military power. Moreover, the opposing side is shouting: "The traitor Guan Yu has killed an official and started a rebellion; Liu Bei must have also rebelled... Issue my order: you gentlemen, kill this traitor immediately!"

Seeing that Guan Yu's troops were few in number, not in formation, and were retreating, the enemy swarmed over.

Seeing that Guan Yu's troops had many packhorses, the enemy probably assumed that Guan Yu had brought a lot of military supplies, so they charged in quite fast.

Guan Yu squinted and carefully examined Guo Xun, who was dressed in scale armor and looked like a military general. He then sent a messenger on horseback to report to Liu Bei.

But Guo Xun remained motionless behind them, as did the hundred or so armored soldiers.

Guo Xun seems quite cautious... or rather, he doesn't care at all whether other troops die or not.

Seeing that Guo Xun had no intention of pursuing them personally, and confirming that there were no large numbers of cavalry in the enemy army, Guan Yu waved his sword and stopped fighting. He then ordered his troops to turn around and retreat quickly to the south, with Guan Yu personally covering the rear.

There were already several hundred paces between the two sides, and each squad in Guan Yu's troops had two packhorses for carrying loads. Although they were infantry, their mobility was not bad, and the archers were constantly shooting arrows to obstruct them, so it was not so easy for the enemy to catch up.

The enemy forces outnumbered the enemy, but after a period of pursuit, their ranks gradually became scattered, and they even started to fall behind.

Liu Bei had professional soldiers under his command who trained every day. In terms of individual martial prowess, they might not be able to match the clan soldiers who practiced traditional martial arts, but in terms of physical fitness and endurance, they were far superior to those ragtag troops.

The area around Ji County was relatively open. Seeing that the enemy was not in formation, Guan Yu ordered his troops to slow down and wait for the enemy to catch up.

It's easy to conduct someone who only has one piece of music, but it's not so easy to control two thousand people who are not under each other's command. Each group has its own agenda, and before long, they were stretched into a long line.

Guan Yu, with his own guards covering the rear, seized the opportunity to kill about ten pursuing cavalrymen.

Seeing this, some enemy soldiers seemed to have given up the pursuit, and many stopped.

But when Guan Yu saw that the enemy was not pursuing, he ordered his troops to stop, loaded their crossbows, and fired a volley. Then he led his troops back and charged again, killing more than a dozen enemy soldiers in a localized area with superior numbers.

This is because the soldiers' physical strength and discipline are superior to their opponents. They repeatedly harass the enemy, killing only a few enemies each time, but the cumulative effect is not small.

Moreover, the casualty ratio is outrageous. So far, only three of Guan Yu's men have died in battle, one of whom was killed by indiscriminate shooting at the very beginning.

But now it's difficult for the enemy to turn back.

Giving up the pursuit? That would be a huge loss; over a hundred people have already died. Besides, the ranks are too spread out now. Guo Xun isn't involved in the pursuit, so they don't have unified command to begin with, making things even more complicated.

Keep chasing? It seems we'll only continue to suffer losses...

Smarter enemies will try to regroup and adjust their pace.

But Guan Yu didn't give them that chance. As soon as the enemy troops behind them stopped, Guan Yu would immediately turn around and fight.

If the other enemies don't catch up, then take out the small group of enemies that have stopped.

If other enemies take the opportunity to catch up—wouldn't that turn into a pursuit situation again?

This can indeed be considered guerrilla warfare, but it is not guerrilla warfare in the conventional sense.

Guan Yu's tactical logic was actually as simple as his swordsmanship. Although he had fewer troops, he always managed to fight with more men than women.

This is indeed a unique style, because Guan Yu's fighting style is based on himself—Guan Yu's ferocity is completely different from other fierce generals. It is not because he is highly skilled in martial arts, but because he can always kill the enemy with a single strike at extremely fast speed.

In small-scale battles, Guan Yu could always end the battle quickly, making it difficult for others to hold him back. He could also easily break the enemy's morale, since few could withstand his first two strikes.

This is why Duan Jiong did not teach Guan Yu.

On the other side, after receiving a message from Guan Yu, Liu Bei immediately led his main force on a rapid eastward march.

The message Guan Yu sent back was that he was luring the enemy south—while Liu Bei was west of Ji County.

Guan Yu's intention was clearly not to get Liu Bei to come to his aid; he did not need any support.

(End of this chapter)