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

Chapter 342 That Golden and Pure New Era

On the battlefield, Guan Yu fought with Taishi Ci for a while, and then saw that the annoying Xiahou Dun had once again widened the distance between them.

Even someone as proud as Guan Yu felt powerless against this extremely shameless kite-fighting tactic, and could only sigh helplessly.

In particular, he had fought with Xiahou Dun's guard several times, and knew that his martial arts skills were extraordinary and he was clearly no ordinary person.

Xiahou Yuan had another set of such a combination on the other side.

By this point in the battle, Guan Yu was already feeling somewhat exhausted.

Unlike his past battle with Ji Ling, he now knew that with the abilities of these two guards, even Guan Yu himself wouldn't dare to claim certain victory if they fought him together, let alone with the brothers Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun also involved.

He is Guan Yu, not Lü Bu, who always liked to take on a group of people by himself.

Since you've all lost your shame and are going to gang up on one person, why don't you just openly and fairly beat up and defeat Guan?

Why do we have to use Ji Ling's methods to disgust people?
While Guan Yu was pondering, Taishi Ci, who was temporarily acting as his opponent to cover Xiahou Dun's retreat, also parried a few more moves and found an opportunity to withdraw.

Despite Guan Yu's valiant efforts, Taishi Ci was determined to leave, and with his teammates providing cover and support, it was not easy to keep him there.

Seeing that Taishi Ci had once again escaped him, he looked at Xiahou Yuan, who was mocking him and luring him into pursuit, and Xiahou Dun, who was maintaining a firing distance and unleashing long-range hidden weapons.

Guan Yu really wanted to look up to the sky and let out a long sigh!
I'm mentally exhausted. This battle has been so grueling. My body isn't tired yet, but my mind feels like it's been through several hundred rounds of intense fighting.

He had tried many times before. Next, when he chased Xiahou Yuan, he would face another situation where one person would throw hidden weapons while running, and another would shoot from a distance.

The guard beside Xiahou Yuan was even more heavily protected than the one beside Xiahou Dun.

Of course, pursuing Xiahou Dun is the same, only the roles are reversed.

What does this mean?
Feeling the numbness or burning sensation of the tiny wounds on his body, Guan Yu had calmed down from his initial anger and felt only a deep sense of despair and helplessness.

He was like a dog, constantly being led around. Even if Cao Cao equipped him with the best weapons and equipment, what good would it do?
His opponent didn't engage him in direct combat at all. His martial arts skills, honed over decades, were only used to defend against hidden weapons, which was like punching cotton, offering no room for maneuver.

Even if they pursued him with all their might, it was nothing more than the impotent rage of prey before its death to Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan. The men of Yuan's camp, like spiders weaving webs, gradually wore down his strength through countless small wounds accumulated from hidden weapons, until he was tightly bound by the spider silk and collapsed from the exhaustion of the pursuit.

If Cao Cao hadn't gifted him the Shadowless Sword before his departure, Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan could have relied on their speed to wear him down from a distance, and he wouldn't have even been able to touch their guards.

Guan Yu stood still on his horse, sword in hand, ignoring the taunts and shouts of Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun.

He was clearly looking at the two people, but they were no longer in his eyes. Instead, an old friend vaguely appeared in his mind, holding a three-pointed double-edged sword, smiling gently as he looked back from afar.

Ji Ling!

Is this the combat system you perfected after all these years?

Just like in the Battle of Hongshui during the reign of Duke Xiang of Song, who insisted on the military etiquette of "not attacking before the enemy has formed ranks," he refused to attack before the enemy had formed ranks, which led to his defeat.

This battle led to the decline of the Spring and Autumn Period's tradition of "military warfare based on propriety and righteousness," and ushered in the era of chaotic warfare among the states where "all warfare is based on deception."

Ji Ling, you also want to use your fighting style to set a precedent, causing the ancient tradition of "fighting on the spot" to decline and "shamelessness" to prevail in the world.
From now on, whenever facing a battle, all generals should attack from a distance rather than engage in close combat, and should gang up on each other rather than fight one-on-one.

"Ji Ling of Nanyang is truly unparalleled. You are unlike Guan Yu, Lü Bu, or any other general of our time."

In a sense, you are indeed an unparalleled general who transcends your time and ushered in a new era.

Guan Yu sighed softly. Seeing that Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan and the others realized he had no intention of pursuing him, they immediately shot long-range hidden weapons at him.

Guan Yu then turned his horse around and rode away without further hesitation.

What Guan Yu found even more shameless was that even though he had stopped chasing, Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun still chased after them and shot at them!
Guan Yu gritted his teeth and said, "No, that's enough!"
I've already let you off the hook and stopped chasing you, but you still won't let me go?

If you're so capable, don't bring any guards, and don't run away. Draw a circle around me, and don't bring any items other than one weapon. Then we'll have a one-on-one fight in the arena!
Guan Yu was nearly driven mad with anger, but Xiahou Dun and his companion had no intention of letting him go. If it weren't for the speed of the Shadowless Horse, anyone else would have been caught up with by them.

Fortunately, seeing Guan Yu's defeat, Cao Cao, who was in the rear army, hurriedly sent Wei Yan and Xu Huang to rescue him.

The two rode up to meet them and engaged in battle with Taishi Ci and Chen Dao. Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, fearing that Guan Yu might turn back and take this opportunity to kill the two of them, stopped their pursuit and retreated back to the Han army formation with Taishi Ci and the other two.

Seeing that Guan Yu had been rescued, Wei Yan and Xu Huang did not linger in battle.

As the two sides temporarily ceased fighting, thunderous cheers erupted from the Han army ranks!

"When brothers go into battle, none can defeat Guan Yu!"

Their heroic pursuit of the remaining enemy forces was magnificent; their fame resounded throughout the army!

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu, who had finally returned to Cao Cao's camp, was given emergency treatment by a physician arranged by Cao Cao. His face turned as red as purple, and he angrily spat out a mouthful of black blood.

The physician was overjoyed upon seeing this and hurriedly told Cao Cao, "Prime Minister, thank goodness!"

General Guan's timely treatment has expelled the poisoned blood, and his condition is mostly recovered. The remaining traces of poison will be cured in a few days.

Guan Yu: "."

This is really toxic!

If I hadn't felt the wound was numb and burning, and hadn't had a vague sense of unease, I wouldn't have dared to continue and had pulled back in time.

If they had delayed until the poison took effect, Guan would have almost been beheaded by these shameless scoundrels.
Shameless!

Ji Ling, the originator of this practice, will he have no descendants?

Guan Yu was well-versed in the Spring and Autumn Annals and knew that during the Spring and Autumn period, the wars between the states still had the ancient style of Duke Xiang of Song.

But ever since Duke Xiang of Song was tricked, the reign of a hegemon came to an end, and war broke out among the states. All sorts of military tactics, tricks, and schemes were used one after another.

The moral bottom line of this world is being lowered time and time again.

When the first person emerges who is more shameless than everyone else, then everyone else must be even more shameless to defeat him.

This is precisely why Guan Yu was willing to follow his elder brother Liu Bei. In such a chaotic world where morality was depraved and humanity was distorted, Liu Bei was like a candle illuminating the darkness.

Even knowing that burning oneself out would be an impossible task to fuel the fire and illuminate the darkness.

But the moths are always powerless to resist; their hearts yearn for it!
"Damn it! Utterly shameless! They only won because they outnumbered them, so what are they being so arrogant about now?"

"That's right, it's just a shameless tactic of shooting arrows from the shadows. They don't dare to fight General Guan head-on at all."

"They're shouting as if they've won. They have no sportsmanship. They're a bunch of cowardly rats who won without any honor. What face do they have to cheer like that?"

Seeing Guan Yu flee back to his lines in defeat, while the Han army opposite them cheered as if they had won, Cao Cao's army was naturally dissatisfied. Led by their officers, they unleashed all sorts of taunts and ridicule at the Han army.

This is a war of words, but also a battle for morale and fighting spirit.

Generally speaking, when a general is defeated by the enemy due to their superior numbers, Cao Cao's army will not only not lose morale, but will actually gain it.

It takes several of your best generals to win, which only makes General Guan look more capable.

However, in the battle just now, Guan Yu did not show any ability. Xiahou Dun and the other two did not give him a chance to show his skills and did not even exchange blows with him.

Taishi Ci and Chen Dao managed to stall for a moment before managing to withdraw.

On the contrary, Guan Yu was played like a dog by Yuan's generals in full view of everyone, and the whole process was a chase of impotent rage, which was not beautiful at all.

In other words, Yuan Jun's fighting style was not honorable and lacked martial ethics, so Cao Jun's morale did not drop much.

But who is Yuan Jun on the other side?

What the hell happened? You won a brutal and despicable brawl, and now you're all patting yourselves on the back for boosting morale?

Why are you all cheering and jumping around like you're so proud?

This was intolerable. Cao Cao's army naturally responded fiercely to Yuan Jun's shameless act of unilaterally declaring that Guan Yu was no match for the Xiahou brothers.

Incredibly, these Yuan soldiers were not ashamed, but rather proud of it!

What? Treating a group attack as a one-on-one duel, the enemy's retreat as a great victory, and the success of a treacherous plot as a testament to our superior wisdom—aren't these routine practices the traditions of our Han army?

Without these great achievements, how can we be promoted and share the wealth and honor bestowed upon us by the King of Han?
Regardless of how we won, whether by strategy or by ganging up on each other, our King Han only cares about the outcome, whether we won or not.

If you win, you get merit; if you lose, you lose merit. What era are we living in? Who still talks about martial virtue and morality with you old Han barbarians?
Martial virtue? How many merits are those worth?
At this moment, the Han army burst into unprecedented laughter after hearing the Cao army's sarcastic and insulting shouts.

They were like the Chu army a thousand years ago, after crossing the river, looking at the Song army that was still "not in formation and not in formation," their eyes full of sneer at the backward era.

You backward barbarians of the old Han dynasty, times have changed! Why don't you join us in embracing the Yellow Emperor and welcoming peace!

The sneers of the Han army and their mocking gazes forced Guan Yu, who had just received treatment from a healer, to close his eyes in despair.

He could almost imagine the new world that was about to be created, led by Yuan Shu, a cunning schemer, and Ji Ling, a shameless general.

That will be an era more treacherous than the art of war, and far darker than the chaotic wars of the pre-Qin states.

"Ji Ling!"
"I, Guan, will personally nip you in the bud. I'll be waiting for you at Huanyuan Pass."

Shortly after, Guan Yu finished treating his injuries and came to apologize to Cao Cao.

"Prime Minister, I am incompetent and have failed your high expectations."

Before he could finish speaking, Cao Cao quickly helped him up, saying, "Yun Chang, there's no need to blame yourself."

Yuan Jun's utter shamelessness is something none of us expected.

"If I had known this would happen, I should have sent Wei Yan and Xu Huang to help you in battle."

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu shook his head slightly.

"The two guards who fought me today must be Chen Dao, Yuan Shu's adopted son, and Taishi Ci, whom the intelligence indicated were left here."

Besides these two, Yuan's army also included Xu Sheng, Yuan Shu's adopted son who was said to have defeated Dian Wei, General Yue Jin, General Li Dian, as well as Ling Cao, Xiahou Ba, and others.

These people may not be as strong as Wei Yan and Xu Huang, but they used the same method to deal with me: several of them fought in a mobile manner, using long-range hidden weapons to injure people.

I fear that even if the Prime Minister sends two generals to fight alongside me, we will still find it difficult to achieve anything.

Guan Yu sighed, his eyes filled with emotion.

"When Guan fought Ji Ling back then, Ji Ling might not have been that strong."

Even if he defeated Lü Bu in one move, it doesn't mean his actual combat strength was superior to Lü Bu's.

The reason he was able to be called unparalleled and the best in the world was that he was good at making use of things, and he was always able to defeat the strong with the weak.

Today, he will spread this method of defeating the strong with the weak to Yuan's army, and I'm afraid it will affect not only these famous generals.

Even a lowly soldier in Yuan's army might, at a crucial moment in a duel, shoot a deadly hidden arrow without feeling ashamed, but rather proud.

The Prime Minister must be on guard.

Cao Cao was startled and dared not mention the duel with generals again.

It should be understood that the probability of a general dying from a stray arrow on the battlefield is much higher than being beheaded, and the Yuan army on the other side was such a specialized stray arrow unit.

Upon hearing Guan Yu's words, Cao Cao remained silent for a moment, abandoning his plan to first dampen the morale of Yuan Shao's army in order to reduce casualties.

He placed his left hand on his sword, his gaze sweeping across the front lines, and commanded in a deep voice, "Beat the drums and charge!"

In an instant, a hundred war drums roared simultaneously, and 100,000 Cao troops slowly advanced, pressing towards the formation of 60,000 Yuan troops.

When they approached a sufficient distance, the archers on both sides simultaneously drew their bows and nocked their arrows, unleashing a dense rain of arrows that crisscrossed like an inverted curtain of sharp, piercing arrows.

The shield bearers on both sides immediately raised their shields and clashed against the rain of arrows. The shouts from the army were deafening. The banners bearing the characters "Cao" and "Han" fluttered above the thousands of soldiers. For a time, the battle cries were deafening and earth-shaking.

Whether it was Guan Yu, Wei Yan, Xu Huang, or Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Chen Dao, Taishi Ci, and others, they were all like waves surging in this torrent of tens of thousands of people colliding, each commanding their troops to fight for survival.

However, not long after the battle began, for some unknown reason, there were instances of command failures among lower-ranking officers and lieutenants in Cao Cao's army.

The Han army proved to be treacherous, just as Guan Yu had predicted.

While these Cao army officers and generals were directing their troops, a Han soldier who was eager to advance might occasionally pass by and, taking advantage of the moment when no one was looking, pull out a hidden arrow he had exchanged for merit points and launch a sneak attack.

There's no other way; merit points are hard to earn. I'll take a gamble with the hidden blade and go from a lowly soldier to a marquis.

These hidden weapons, which are exchanged through the Hall of Merit, all have unique markings. In the midst of a large-scale battle, it is advisable to carry them with you for any eventuality.

If you're lucky enough to hit the target, you'll get the head of a high-ranking enemy general, enough to earn you a lot of merit and instant wealth.

These newly signed and certified hidden weapons, produced by the King of Han in the Hall of Merit, have become as popular as a lottery among the Han army.

(End of this chapter)