Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 118 Yuan's army of "two hundred thousand" men, who can defeat them?
Looking at the two or three thousand Yuan soldiers blocking his way, Li Cen thought to himself, what merit is not merit?
Going to Wang Yan would mean sharing the credit, so wouldn't it be better to just take the credit for yourself?

Without hesitation, he led his seven or eight thousand troops to attack and fight with Yuan's army.

However, as the killing continued, Li Cen also sensed that something was wrong.

Despite having only two or three thousand men, they ended up killing for half a day, leaving Li Cen and his Black Mountain bandits exhausted.

Why are Yuan Jun's forces not decreasing, but instead increasing with each killing?
Seeing his own troops constantly being lost and his morale waning, while Yuan's army continued to fuel his ambitions, he gradually developed murderous intent and was about to surround him.

Yes, two or three thousand people, surrounding his seven or eight thousand followers!

Such an outrageous fighting style was something Li Cen had never even heard of, let alone seen!

He was starting to feel uneasy.

not good!

Did Wang Yan cheat me?

What merit did these Yuan troops have? They were clearly Yuan's elite main force, meant to annihilate him here.

That's right! A "main force" of two to three thousand people!
At least that's what Li Cen thinks.

Realizing Yuan Jun's intention to encircle them, Li Cen was unwilling to abandon his troops and flee directly, so he hurriedly sought help from Du Rong, the junior commander he was on good terms with.

Unlike Wang Yan, Du Rong and Li Cen were childhood friends from the same hometown, having shared life and death experiences over the years. Therefore, Li Cen was straightforward and stated directly in his letter:

[Yuan Jun's main force is with me! Come to my rescue immediately!]

However, after receiving Li Cen's plea for help, Du Rong showed no intention of rushing to his rescue.

It wasn't that he lacked brotherly loyalty; he was simply afraid when he heard that Yuan Jun's main force was in Li Cen.

Instead, his own home was surrounded by tens of thousands of Yuan troops.

Looking at the six-horse carriage frame in the enemy's formation, the Yuan-character flag fluttered high.

Du Rong sighed with a wry smile.

"Li Cen! Li Cen! You say the main force of Yuan's army is with you, then what is in front of me?"
You want me to save you? Then who will save me?

As one man alighted from the six-horse carriage among the enemy troops, Yuan Gongyi's son, Sun Ce, the commander of Yuan's 70,000-strong army, personally rode out to fight the enemy.

Yuan Jun's morale reached its peak in an instant. In contrast, the Black Mountain bandits, surrounded by enemy forces several times their size, were panicked and fearful, and had no will to fight.
"I am Sun Bofu, the adopted son of Yuan Gong and the Little Conqueror!"

On the plains of Changping, Guan Yu, who famously killed Hua Xiong while the wine was still warm, was defeated by me and nearly killed.

Today, I see you lowly bastards, who dares to stop me?

Du Rong watched as Sun Ce slew seven of his generals in the midst of the battle, moving through the enemy ranks as if they were nothing, cutting through the soldiers and heading straight for him.

How dare he, a mere bandit leader from the Black Mountain, stand in his way? He hastily spurred his horse and fled.

With his escape, the Black Mountain bandits were completely defeated.

When Sun Ce caught up on his divine steed Yu Li, he killed Du Rong with a single spear thrust, then carried his corpse across the battlefield.

This ultimately means that this battle has come to an end.

The remaining Black Mountain bandits were either killed or captured and all were taken to the rear for safekeeping.

By the time Du Rong was defeated, this was the fifth minor commander that Yuan Shu had annihilated with his superior forces.

After all, they were just a motley crew of Black Mountain bandits, most of whom were civilians who had been coerced and kidnapped into becoming bandits.

Such an army lacks not only combat effectiveness and fighting spirit, but also complete armor and weapons; some even went to the battlefield with only hoes and sickles.

Therefore, when they truly faced the Black Mountain Army and understood their actual combat strength, Zhou Yu adapted to the situation and changed his original strategy of delaying by adding fuel to the fire to launch a full-scale attack.

This is also why Li Cen suddenly felt that his own forces were surrounded by two or three thousand people and he couldn't break through. Meanwhile, Yuan Shu's original main force of 10,000 men had gathered 25,000 men after annihilating five waves of Black Mountain bandits and joining forces from various places.

And as they continue to hunt down the Black Mountain Little Commander one after another, the numbers will snowball and grow bigger and bigger.

But at that very moment, Yuan Shu, riding on a six-horse carriage, finally received news that Sun Qing had personally led 20,000 troops to rescue these tribal leaders.

When Zhou Yu saw Yuan Shu looking at him, he smiled and addressed him with a feather fan and silk turban.

"Don't worry, Lord Yuan. You can order General Zhou Tai to lead 10,000 men to intercept Sun Qing and continue to delay him."

Lord Yuan and I led the remaining 15,000 men to continue killing the minor leaders one by one in order to consolidate our forces.

In Yu's opinion, the next one should be Li Cen.

Yuan Shu nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Sun Qingchu, his furious gaze fixed on the crowd around him, urged his troops to move quickly.

He's about to go crazy with anger.

Who can understand!

He was perfectly content in the fortified village of a powerful landlord he had just conquered, ordering his men to move grain, gold, and silver in large quantities, while he himself was enjoying the service of ladies from noble families.

Who could have imagined that suddenly, letters pleading for help would arrive like snowflakes?

One person said they had encountered Yuan Shu's main force, another said Yuan Shu's main force was with them, and yet another said they were being besieged by Yuan Shu's own troops.

Twelve urgent pleas for help, like snowflakes, urgently requesting Sun Qing's assistance. They wanted to save this and that, what did they take him, the great commander, for?

The key issue is that Sun Qing has no idea where Yuan Jun's main force is.
He even interpreted the messages in these letters seeking help as if Yuan's army had twelve main forces that were about to be annihilated one by one.

Damn it!
Didn't they say that Yuan's army only numbered 70,000?
Despite our superior troop strength, how did you manage to fight a battle where you were surrounded and annihilated one by one by an army of 300,000?

However, Sun Qing, who quickly arrived at full speed to provide support, knew why.

Because he encountered Zhou Tai, who had also come to intercept him.

At first, seeing that Zhou Tai's army only numbered ten thousand, Sun Qing didn't take it seriously and directly led his troops forward to crush this Yuan army that dared to provoke him.

then
His main force, the largest reinforcement force from the Black Mountain region that all the Black Mountain leaders had been eagerly anticipating, soon found itself bogged down in a quagmire.

After a long and fierce battle, Sun Qing led his men in a desperate fight that lasted for half a day.

When he discovered that Yuan Jun's forces had not only not decreased, but were actually increasing in number, he knew something was wrong.

We must have encountered Yuan's main force!

Seeing that his 20,000 men were about to be surrounded by Yuan's 10,000 troops, Sun Qingcai truly panicked.

Just as he was about to call for reinforcements, he remembered the twelve letters pleading for help, which were like snowflakes.

At present, more than 100,000 Black Mountain bandits, including leaders of all ranks, are tied up in thirteen battlefields by Yuan's "main force," so where would they find any troops to come to their aid?

At that moment, Sun Qing suddenly realized something, as if struck by lightning.

They were all deceived!

Yuan Jun's forces definitely number more than 70,000!

With this force that surrounded and annihilated his 100,000 Black Mountain bandits, Yuan Shu's army in Liang must be no less than 200,000!
He must have been hiding his true strength all along. He must have set up such a trap to kill Cao Cao's army. Who would have thought that the Black Mountain bandits would be so unlucky as to rush over and step on this landmine for Cao Cao's army?

Realizing this, Sun Qing was both angry and anxious, and hurriedly sought help from Xu Huang, Cao Chun, Mao Jie, and the Xiongnu!

This is such a huge pit, I can't just jump into it by myself, can I?
Only by sharing the burden can we have a chance to survive today.

(End of this chapter)