Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

However, Sun Jian frowned slightly and said.

"Wouldn't that mean my achievements would be shared with all the allied lords? And it would also waste this great opportunity."

"If I, as the vanguard, were to capture Hulao Pass alone, that would be a tremendous achievement, and it would surely spread my name, Sun Jian, throughout the north and south of the Yangtze River."

As Sun Jian spoke, he stared with bloodshot eyes at the map of Hulao Pass's defenses, which he had painstakingly scouted out over the past few days, sacrificing many of his own soldiers.

Sun Jian had brought approximately ten thousand elite soldiers from Changsha Commandery, while there were about seven thousand soldiers inside Hulao Pass.

Moreover, Hua Xiong, the defending general of Hulao Pass, was merely strong but not skilled in commanding troops or defending the city.

Therefore, after Sun Jian repeatedly launched strong attacks on Hulao Pass, he discovered many loopholes in the pass's defenses.

However, facing the formidable natural barrier of Hulao Pass, Sun Jian's forces were ultimately insufficient, so even though Sun Jian clearly saw the opportunity, he simply couldn't seize Hulao Pass from Hua Xiong.

On the contrary, today Sun Jian personally braved arrows and stones to attack the city, and with great difficulty, he managed to climb the city wall, only to end up in a mutually destructive battle with Hua Xiong. In the end, it was only with the desperate protection of his retainers Huang Gai and Cheng Pu that Sun Jian was rescued from the city wall.

However, Sun Jian was still unwilling to give up this opportunity to become famous throughout the world. He stared intently at the defense map in front of him, letting Huang Gai bandage his wounds, while he himself was lost in thought.

It wasn't until Huang Gai had finished bandaging him and Sun Jian didn't know how long he had been pondering, that he suddenly felt a pang of hunger and came back to his senses, saying to Huang Gai.

"Gongfu, go ask Darong (Zu Mao, courtesy name Darong) why the food hasn't been delivered yet."

"Yes."

Huang Gai responded and left the tent for a moment.

When he returned, he led Sun Jian's other three confidant generals, Zu Mao, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu, in with him, but Sun Jian glanced at them and didn't see them holding any food, which made Sun Jian feel a sense of foreboding.

Among the four generals who entered, Zu Mao's expression was the most troubled, and he knelt directly on the ground.

Sun Jian frowned and asked, "Darong, what are you doing?"

Zu Mao gritted his teeth and said with bloodshot eyes, "Lord, I have failed you. The army… the army is out of food."

"What?"

Sun Jian was stunned and felt a chill run through his body, asking, "Why is that?"

Zu Mao lowered his head and said, prostrating on the ground.

"According to the agreement, the allied forces should have sent supplies every three days, but no supplies arrived three days ago…"

"Today should have been the day for supplies to arrive again, but still no supplies were seen. I also sent confidants to search for the supply train along the rear, but they also didn't find the supply train. Therefore, half a day ago, our army completely ran out of food."

"The Lord entrusted me with this important task, but I caused the army to run out of food. Please, Lord, cut off my head to appease the army and then quickly retreat."

Upon hearing this, Sun Jian was both shocked and angry.

Out of food for half a day?!

That is to say, the entire army had their last meal this morning?

And it had been about an hour since they had failed to capture the city and returned to the camp, but the food had not arrived, which was enough to make the army's morale unstable, and a mutiny could break out at any time.

This made Sun Jian's eyes turn red with anger, and his palm subconsciously pressed on his Ancient Ding Blade, roaring.

"Why didn't you report such a matter of life and death to…"

Suddenly, Sun Jian's voice stopped abruptly, because Sun Jian suddenly remembered that Zu Mao had reported this matter three days ago.

It was just that at that time, Sun Jian was wholeheartedly studying the defenses of Hulao Pass, feeling that he could capture Hulao Pass in an instant, so he didn't take this matter to heart at all, and instead impatiently told Zu Mao to handle it himself.

And this morning, Sun Jian had led the army to attack Hulao Pass early in the morning, and he also didn't give Zu Mao any chance to speak…

"Ah!!!"

Sun Jian, unable to contain his anger, suddenly raised his Ancient Ding Blade and slashed it on the table, directly cutting the table in two, saying.

"The matter of grain and grass is supervised by the little brat Yuan Shu, and he must be involved. Hateful! Hateful!!! It must be because the little brat Yuan Shu saw that I was about to break through Hulao Pass and make a contribution, so he became jealous and secretly cut off my grain and grass."

At this moment, Sun Jian even blamed Liu Bei, feeling that he supported Liu Bei so much, but Liu Bei, as the deputy leader of the alliance, didn't even guarantee his grain and grass in the rear.

"Hateful!"

Immediately, Sun Jian slammed the Ancient Ding Blade in his hand heavily on the ground and said to Zu Mao.

"Now that things have come to this, what use is it to take your life? Moreover, you are not to blame for this, but there are villains plotting in the rear…"

After a pause, Sun Jian took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down, understanding that the most important thing at this moment was to stabilize the army's morale, otherwise, once the soldiers realized that the food was exhausted, they would definitely rebel.

It should be known that the soldiers of this era, with the exception of a very small number, were essentially for the military pay and a bite to eat, even if they were elite.

Once the food was cut off, the soldiers would disperse.

"Darong, quickly arrange for your confidants to take all the warhorses in the army to a secluded place in the rear and slaughter them all."

"Gongfu, Yigong, Demou, the three of you quickly go to various places in the army to stabilize the morale, saying that I intend to encourage the soldiers, and everyone will have meat to eat tonight."

"As long as we get through tonight, we will retreat tomorrow morning and return to the allied forces to settle accounts with those villains!"

At the end, Sun Jian's face was already extremely ugly.

Retreating meant that Sun Jian had completely missed the great opportunity to capture Hulao Pass, and in order to stabilize the army's morale, the hundred or so warhorses that had been so hard to collect would all have to be slaughtered.

This made Sun Jian's heart bleed…

Those hundred or so warhorses were warhorses that Sun Jian had purchased from the Mi Family Merchant Association after a whole year of saving money, even never sending any money or food to his home in Wu Commandery.

Just as Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Zu Mao were preparing to take orders and stabilize the army as soon as possible.

A commotion and shouts of killing suddenly broke out in the west of the camp, which caused the faces of Sun Jian and the four generals to change drastically.

Enemy attack!

Having experienced many battles, everyone almost instantly realized the seriousness of the problem.

"Hua Xiong, you dog thief, I underestimated you. You actually have some wit, understanding that the injury of both main generals is a good opportunity for a sneak attack."

Sun Jian, who was already consumed by anger, was now as if the last straw had been broken, and he picked up the Ancient Ding Blade and roared.

"Good, good, good, since you want to fight, then fight! Burn the boats and break the cauldrons, defeat the invading bandits, and take the opportunity to attack Hulao Pass. There will be plenty of food to enjoy inside the pass."

It was just that Sun Jian, who was consumed by anger, had lost his mind, but that didn't mean that Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Zu Mao had also lost their minds.

The soldiers in the army had already attacked the city for most of the day, were hungry, and had been back in the camp for a full hour without seeing any food. They must already be suspicious and their morale was unstable.

Under such circumstances, how could Sun Jian lead the army to fight with the attacking enemy?

The premise of burning the boats and breaking the cauldrons was that the soldiers in the army were well-fed!

Immediately, the four generals stopped Sun Jian almost to the left and right, pleading bitterly.

"Lord, things cannot be done! We should retreat quickly!"

"That's right. Once the enemy discovers the truth about our army, I'm afraid there will be no chance to leave even if we want to."

"Most of the allied forces are in the rear. While we protect the Lord and break through in the direction of the allied forces, there will definitely be no problem."

"Why doesn't the Lord think about the wives and children at home? If the Lord perishes with that thief, what face will we have to see the young master and madam in Wu Commandery?"

Under the desperate obstruction of the four generals, Sun Jian gradually calmed down.

However, Sun Jian realized something even more, that was, the sneak attack came too coincidentally, so coincidentally that it was as if someone had tipped off Hua Xiong, not giving Sun Jian even the slightest chance to stabilize the army's morale.

"Yuan Shu, you little brat!!!"

Sun Jian squeezed these words out of his teeth, and seeing that the attacking enemy had already broken through the camp in an instant, and his hungry subordinates were almost defeated at the first blow.

Sun Jian also realized that the situation was over, and he quickly put on his armor, and with the protection of the four generals and his guards, he began to break through towards the rear, carrying the Ancient Ding Blade.

Hua Xiong, who personally led the army to raid the camp this time, also noticed Sun Jian's figure and led more than a thousand Xiliang iron cavalry towards Sun Jian's direction without hesitation.

In terms of defending the city, the Xiliang iron cavalry might not be as good as the infantry trained by Sun Jian.

But under such circumstances, the Xiliang iron cavalry was almost a massacre wherever they went.

And even if Sun Jian desperately urged his warhorse, the distance between the two sides was still constantly closing.

This made a sense of despair rise in Sun Jian's heart, and he suddenly remembered what Li Ji had once said, "Fullness cannot last long."

"I regret not listening to Li Zikun's words, leading to such an end!"

Sun Jian sighed, and seeing that the pursuers were about to arrive, the fortitude in his heart did not allow Sun Jian to be injured and die from behind. He was about to turn around and fight Hua Xiong to the death to preserve his reputation.

Zu Mao spoke first.

"Lord, please give me the red turban on your head and the Ancient Ding Blade. The night is dim, and my body shape and armor style are similar to the Lord's. I will definitely mislead the thief, and the Lord can take the opportunity to escape in other directions."

What he said was obviously that Zu Mao was determined to die.

Sun Jian instinctively wanted to refuse Zu Mao, but the words came to his lips, and he swallowed them back.

After hesitating for a few breaths, Sun Jian finally made up his mind and was about to speak.

"Darong, then…"

Suddenly, a large white shadow appeared in front, causing the faces of Sun Jian and others to change drastically, their faces ashen, subconsciously thinking that Hua Xiong had laid an ambush here in advance.

However, at this moment.

The large white shadow that was rushing towards Sun Jian's direction sounded a loud voice, saying.

"Declare your name! I am Zhao Zilong of Changshan, under the command of Liu Xuande, a member of the Han imperial family!"

Instantly, Sun Jian's mood shifted from worry to joy, and he hurriedly shouted loudly, "I am Sun Wentai, the governor of Changsha! We are being pursued by Dong Zhuo's troops! General Zhao, please quickly assist me!"

After a moment, as Sun Jian waited anxiously, Zhao Yun's voice rang out again.

"Then please have General Sun clear the way, and I will break through the enemy!" (End of Chapter)