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

Chapter 128 Regret for not heeding Master Yang's advice!

Years ago, the strategist Tian Guang said to Prince Dan of Yan:
"A person of blood courage turns red with anger; a person of pulse courage turns blue with anger; a person of bone courage turns white with anger; a person of spirit courage remains expressionless when angry!"

At this moment, Xu Huang remained calm and led his more than 4,000 men toward the main force of Yuan's army of 200,000 that Sun Qing had mentioned, which was truly a display of great bravery.

Yes, he had to save Sun Qing first, because Sun Qing had the strongest army. If he could save Sun Qing, it would affect the whole situation.

At that time, he could also, like Yuan Jun, snowball his forces, gathering troops wherever he saved.

Finally, by gathering all his troops and using superior forces, he overwhelmed Yuan's so-called "two hundred thousand men" and crushed them.

However, he had only gone halfway when he saw billowing dust ahead and the sound of horses' hooves thundering!
A cavalry unit galloped towards them from a distance.

Xu Huang was startled!
The secret passage is dangerous; how could Yuan's army still have cavalry?

Yuan Shu, based in Huainan, didn't have many cavalrymen to begin with. His personal guards could afford to spend a lot of money to build a cavalry force of three or four thousand men, which was already the limit.

Shouldn't this Yuan army cavalry be sent to fight the Xiongnu at this time?
Could it be that the Xiongnu were disobeying orders? Or had they received a message from Sun Qing and fled in fear of Yuan's army?

Xu Huang didn't know what was going on with the Xiongnu, but he knew he was in big trouble.

You see, since he saw through Yuan Jun's strategy of adding fuel to the fire and using the numbers to overwhelm the few, he had already guessed that if he set off, Yuan Jun would definitely send troops to stop him.

With him, the Xiongnu, Cao Chun, Mao Jie, and others, all their troops could press forward together. Yuan's army would be stretched thin at this moment, and even if they sent troops in separate groups, the number of troops would not be too large.

As long as the enemy force does not exceed five thousand, Xu Huang is confident that he can easily defeat them with this elite force that has followed him under Yang Feng's command and fought countless battles on the way back to Chang'an, and continue to rescue Sun Qing.

Xu Huang never expected that Yuan Shu valued him so much that the troops he sent to stop him were actually cavalry!
On an open plain, with equal numbers of troops, infantry against cavalry, let alone Xu Huang, perhaps even Xiang Yu would have to be resurrected to have any chance of fighting him.

At this moment, this brave man, who had dared to face the "two hundred thousand" Yuan army without flinching, actually felt a pang of regret.

I regret not heeding Master Yang's advice!
Could it be that what Yang Gong said was right? Today, I am really going to lose the emperor's only army here, and the annals of history will clearly show that I am the one who has delayed the overall situation?

What he didn't know was that if Yang Feng hadn't delayed him, he would have arrived even a little earlier.

At that time, Sun Ce and others were still fighting against Hun Tu Xie. Yuan Shu, whose main force had been reduced to only nine thousand men, really couldn't spare many troops to stop him.

But things had come to this point, and Yuan's army was approaching. Xu Huang ordered his soldiers to raise their shields and form a battle formation.

Large shields stood before them, and spears formed a forest, their sharp, cold glints meeting the oncoming iron cavalry.

Even if the infantry suffer heavy casualties in the cavalry charge, the first rank of cavalry will fall under their spears, thus halting the cavalry's momentum.

At the same time, archers inside launched volleys at the cavalry, causing them to suffer casualties before they even got close.

This is the most orthodox formation for infantry to fight cavalry. If the enemy were all light cavalry, they might actually shrink back in front of this hedgehog-like defensive formation.

However, the first to arrive from Yuan's army was a group of twenty-eight heavily armored cavalrymen, led by Sun Ce and Xu Chu. They were not only clad in thick armor, but their warhorses were also heavily armored.

"The Yuan family's hegemony is within reach!"

"Follow me, gentlemen, to break through the enemy lines and slay the foe for our godfather!"

At Sun Ce's command, he charged towards the armored formation with his spear, accompanied by Xu Chu and twenty-six mounted guards!
The horses' hooves thundered, and the two drew ever closer!
Xu Huang gave the order first.

"Fire arrows!"

Sun Ce then issued the order.

"charge!"

One side unleashed a hail of arrows, while the other charged forward against them. The clanging of metal striking metal echoed as arrows struck the heavy armor.

It seemed like a silent mockery.

And it was amidst the clanging of metal that the charge began in an instant!
This is because the infantry, standing on the ground in formation, generally find it difficult to directly pierce the riders on horseback with their spears.

However, they often didn't need to stab people; they only needed to stab the horse's belly. Once the horse died, the cavalry was no longer a threat.

However, this cavalry force of twenty-eight riders was not only all dressed in thick armor, making them unafraid of arrows, but even their horses were equipped with heavy armor.

Horses charged and collided with spears, sparks flying as the spear tips rubbed against the armor, and the immense impact struck instantly.

The spearheads could still fight against the iron armor, but the spear shafts of these ordinary soldiers were all made of wood. How could they withstand such a huge impact?

Countless spear shafts bent and broke, and a large number of spear-wielding soldiers cried out in agony.

At that very moment, the charge finally reached the shield formation.

Sun Ce used his spear to knock down a shield soldier with the momentum of his horse, and then Xu Chu led twenty-six riders with swords dragging them.

It was as if a mountain had been split in two, with streaks of bright, white light flashing as they passed by.

Faced with this powerful and heavy strike, a mere bump would mean certain death, a single contact would mean certain death, leaving the man and shield a bloody mess.

Twenty-eight heavy cavalrymen led the way, breaking through the enemy's formation. Yuan's vanguard then advanced, followed by four thousand cavalrymen who charged in through the gap.

When cavalry charges into infantry without the cover of battle formations, even the most battle-hardened elites become lambs to the slaughter.

Xu Huang was still shouting loudly in the middle of the formation, trying to reorganize the defensive formation.

However, with Yuan's cavalry constantly charging back and forth in the formation under the leadership of Sun Ce and Xu Chu, how could he possibly have a chance to calmly deploy his troops?
From the moment Yuan Jun's twenty-eight cavalry charged into the formation and broke through the defensive line, everyone knew that there was no way to turn the tide.

This has nothing to do with the commander-in-chief, the troops, or even whether the soldiers are elite or not.

This was merely a massacre of infantry by cavalry on a plain.

"General!
The infantry are almost certainly dead; if we seize this opportunity to mount our horses and break out, we still have a chance of survival.

"Mount up and break through?"

Xu Huang watched as his soldiers, who had followed him on the journey back to Luoyang, fought fiercely against Li and Guo, narrowly escaping death, and finally found peace, were brutally slaughtered by cavalry right before his eyes.

He almost burst into tears, but then smiled bitterly.

"What good is it if there is still a chance of survival? After today, how can I, Xu Gongming, face Lord Yang again!"
I regret not heeding Yang Gong's advice, being arrogant, underestimating the enemy, and advancing rashly, which led to this disaster!
I have failed the expectations of the court and have let Your Majesty down.

"General, victory and defeat are common occurrences in war."

The matter is beyond repair. The loss of troops has already caused His Majesty great distress. If you were to perish here as well, wouldn't that cause His Majesty even greater grief?
If His Majesty were to lose you as well, what would he have left to rely on in Luoyang?

Moreover, if you were to die here, Liang's war would collapse instantly. Do you intend to annihilate Liang's 130,000-strong allied army?

"Ugh!"

Although Xu Huang was speechless with pain at this moment, he knew that he absolutely could not die here, otherwise it would be a matter of pain to his loved ones and joy to his enemies. Only by preserving his useful body could he atone for his sins and make meritorious contributions.

Without further hesitation, he and his personal guards mounted their only horses and, taking advantage of the chaos of the Yuan army's charge, fled under the cover of their soldiers.

(End of this chapter)