I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 455 Even the guaranteed minimum isn't enough?
What do you mean by "gone"?

"I'm asking you! What do you mean by 'gone'!"

Gao Lan grabbed a soldier covered in blood and roared.

"Twenty thousand cavalry! All the cavalry in Hebei! And tens of thousands of elite troops! How could they just disappear like that?"

The soldier dared not speak, while Gao Lan's fingers continued to dig into the soldier's shoulder.

"enough!"

Zhang He stepped forward and grabbed Gao Lan.

"The Mangdang Mountain has been defeated! The supervising officer has also been executed by Liu Miao! What else do you want to ask?"

Gao Lan plopped down on the ground.

He raised his head, but his eyes remained vacant.

"The most urgent task now is to go and support the soldiers being evacuated from the battlefield and to gather intelligence on the battle!"

Zhang He sighed deeply: "Also, you must inform His Majesty immediately, so that he may be informed!"

Gao Lan remained seated, covering his head in disbelief.

The Battle of Mangdang Mountain was lost?
How could Yuan Jun's main cavalry force be defeated head-on?

Even Ju Shou, the commander-in-chief of Yuan's army who always held a special position in Yuan's army, was executed by Liu Miao.

Isn't this too strange?

That's not how you fight a war.

How could the Han army's cavalry possibly defeat Yuan's army's cavalry?
No, according to the soldiers who escaped, it wasn't a victory at all; it was a crushing defeat!
and also!

And Ju Shou!

As a pillar of Yuan's army and a leader of the Hebei literati, isn't it a bit too hasty for him to die like this?
Wasn't the Battle of Mangdang Mountain fought in a rather strange way?
Seeing Gao Lan's predicament, Zhang He reached out and pulled him up!

"The war isn't over yet! What are you doing?"

"Besides, when we launch a full-scale attack on Pengcheng, we won't need cavalry anyway! So what if we suffer some losses?"

Zhang He said this to Gao Lan, but at the same time, he was also saying it to himself.

Even so, Zhang He dared not use such a bloody word as "annihilate" to mark it.

"You stay here and gather as much information as possible! I will go and explain to His Majesty!"

Zhang He promoted Gao Lan to the position of official.

"Now that Ju Gong is gone, Hebei still exists! We must not allow any certain person to taint power in Hebei!"

His personal guards brought over his warhorse, and Zhang He suppressed his restlessness and fear.

"The most desperate moment hasn't arrived yet! We must hold on!"

Seeing the light return to Gao Lan's dim eyes, Zhang He led his troops away to Yuan's army camp in the north.

After Zhou Yu withdrew from Dingtao, Dingtao became the base of Yuan Shao's main force.

The reason for choosing this location is that Dingtao is surrounded by a dense network of waterways. The logistical support required by the massive Yuan army could not be located too far from the waterways.

Secondly, Yuan Shao wanted to take another gamble.

Yuan Shao was gambling that if the Han army at Mangdang Mountain were defeated, the Han army at Pengcheng might panic and choose to leave their tortoise shell in Pengcheng, exposing themselves on the plains.

If that's the case, the significance of the Battle of Mangdang Mountain would be completely different!

Although Yuan Shao himself knew that the probability was very small, he still had to hold out hope, right?

Moreover, even if such an outcome is not achieved, I will definitely not lose out in this battle.

If, as Ju Shou had planned before the battle, the heavy cavalry of the Han army had been annihilated and the mobile forces of the Han army had been eliminated, it would have greatly improved the current battlefield situation.

Even if they cannot eliminate the Han army's cavalry, but only defeat the 20,000 infantry under Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci, they will still have an advantage over Yuan's army given the shift in power.

The worst-case scenario Yuan Shao could imagine was that Ju Shou only defeated the Han army but failed to annihilate them in a well-organized manner in the terrain of Mangdang Mountain.

Even so, this was still the first victory for Yuan's army on the Central Plains battlefield, and it was of great significance!

As Yuan Shao thought about these things, he even felt much lighter.

The energy I had lost because of those "rumors" seemed to be slowly recovering during these few days of waiting.

Yuan Shao remained in a good mood until Zhang He and Guo Tu arrived at Yuan Shao's imperial tent.

"Tell me, how is the battle going?"

It was just a routine inquiry.

But Zhang He and Guo Tu's reactions clearly made Yuan Shao's heart skip a beat!
Guo Tu lowered his head, looking as if he had lost his parents.

Although Zhang He managed to maintain the composure of a military general, his jaw was trembling, and he could not utter a word.

Yuan Shao suddenly had a headache.

Cao Cao had told him before how painful headaches were.

At that time, Yuan Shao couldn't empathize with Cao Cao's situation and even wondered why Cao Cao had become so delicate, unable to withstand even a little pain. But after Yuan Shao also went through this ordeal, he suddenly realized that Cao Cao was truly a man!

Yuan Shao closed his eyes.

After the pain subsided, another wave of intense dizziness washed over me.

Yuan Shao could no longer hold on and leaned back on the couch, gradually becoming breathless.

"Lost?"

"Ah."

Yuan Shao dared not open his eyes, as if it were all an illusion.

"How could we lose? Where is Ju Shou? Bring him to see me! Immediately!"

"Ju Shou was captured by the Han army, and some soldiers witnessed Liu Miao executing him."

Yuan Shao, who had been keeping his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.

"Ju Shou is dead?"

"Yes."

"..."

The dizziness intensified, and Yuan Shao felt his stomach churning.

"Ow—"

A sudden shout startled the guards outside, who rushed in and discovered that Yuan Shao was sitting there weeping bitterly!

Even when Xun Yu's younger brother Xun Chen, Yuan Shao's trusted advisor, died two years earlier, Yuan Shao did not shed a tear for him.

But now, Yuan Shao was completely overwhelmed with grief!
Yuan Shao's once handsome face, now gaunt, was streaked with tears, causing Guo Tu and Zhang He to prostrate themselves, pleading, "Your Majesty! Please don't cry yourself sick!"

"Your Majesty! This is the army; we must not weep!"

Upon hearing the advice, Yuan Shao lowered his voice and choked back tears as he spoke to those around him: "When Ji Province was first pacified, you devised strategies for me to govern the world, holding the reins of Ji Province and conquering the lands of four provinces. You were truly a king's advisor! Now you have suddenly abandoned me. Who can I turn to for the Yuan family's legacy?"

Ju Shou's death was like the sky falling halfway down over Hebei!
Yuan Shao's spirit of facing death head-on finally crashed into an inescapable wall!

Ju Shou's power in the army, his position in the imperial court, and his influence in Hebei...

Just thinking about it was enough to make Yuan Shao's scalp tingle!
Therefore, it cannot be entirely said that shedding tears at this moment was just for show.

At the same time, Yuan Shao instantly grasped the most crucial issue after Ju Shou's death—

military power!

"Quickly gather the soldiers at the front!"

Faced with Yuan Shao's urgent orders, Guo Tu and Zhang He remained unmoved, simply burying their heads in the shadows, not daring to look at Yuan Shao.

"Gongze! Junyi! What are you doing standing here? Have you already sent people to the front lines ahead of time?"

Yuan Shao's first reaction was, "Could it be that someone dares to seize power at this moment? To bypass me and secretly gather the Yuan army's cavalry?"
Or perhaps, after Ju Shou's death, something happened to Jiang Yiqu, who was leading Yuan's cavalry.
Guo Tu glanced to the side.

Seeing that Zhang He, who had just declared he would report the news, was now completely motionless, he could only steel himself and raise his face, his bloodshot eyes wide open—

"Your Majesty! Our entire army was wiped out at Mangdang Mountain! Including the cavalry! Ju Shou was not captured by the Han army because of carelessness, but because the defeat was so severe that he was powerless to reverse the situation and committed suicide in his camp!"

Yuan Shao's eyes widened, and he felt his head suddenly grow much larger.

What is this guy saying?

The entire army was wiped out?

The cavalry are all gone?
What and what?
That's hilarious, absolutely hilarious!
"Hahahahahaha!"

Yuan Shao suddenly burst into laughter, appearing as if he had gone mad!
"Hahahahahaha!"

The louder Yuan Shao laughed, the more the hearts of those around him sank.

"brush!"

Yuan Shao drew his sword from his waist.

Seeing this, those around him rushed forward to pull him away, repeatedly crying and pleading, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please calm down!"

"Hahahaha!"

Yuan Shao pointed his sword at the heavens, laughing for a moment before bursting into a tirade of curses.

"Ju Shou!"

You lied to me!

"Ju Shou! Get your ass over here! Tell me! How did you fight this battle? Hahahaha!"

Yuan Shao was crying and laughing at the same time. Suddenly, as if a string had snapped, Yuan Shao fell straight down!

This terrified everyone!

"His Majesty!!!"

(End of this chapter)