Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Meanwhile, on the Jie Bridge behind Zhao Yun, the last of Gongsun Zan's remaining troops were gradually crossing the halfway point.

Zhao Yun glanced back, then turned his gaze back to the Yuan army in front of him.

The Yuan army's infantry and generals were intimidated and dared not approach for a moment, but the archers in the rear were reorganizing, seemingly preparing to unleash a rain of arrows towards the bridgehead.

Having charged and fought for so long in the chaotic army, Zhao Yun dared not continue to be careless, and his gaze finally fell on the direction of Yuan Shao's chariot.

As if aware of Zhao Yun's archery skills, Yuan Shao had no intention of approaching within one hundred and fifty paces of Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun's eyes might be able to clearly see Yuan Shao, but it was extremely difficult for an arrow to reach Yuan Shao beyond one hundred and fifty paces.

Immediately, Zhao Yun loudly spoke a sentence.

"Yun is here on the orders of my lord, specifically to dissuade the two families from fighting. Lord Yuan and Lord Gongsun are both pillars of the Great Han. Even if there are personal grudges, why bother fighting to this point?"

"To prevent the people of Ji Province from suffering the pain of war, I implore both families to cease fighting as soon as possible. It would be best for Lord Yuan to go to Bing Province to take office as the governor as soon as possible, and return Bohai Commandery to Lord Han and Lord Gongsun for governance."

These words seemed to be neutral and reasonable, but in reality, they were completely aimed at undermining Yuan Shao, and even explained Zhao Yun's presence here as being entirely for the public good.

Yuan Shao naturally understood the deep meaning within.

Yuan Shao's nominal official position was the Governor of Bing Province, but he had been confronting Han Fu, the Governor of Ji Province, and Gongsun Zan, the Administrator of Bohai Commandery, within Ji Province for more than a year.

In terms of both reason and emotion, Yuan Shao did not have any advantage.

However, Zhao Yun did not say this sooner or later.

The fact that Zhao Yun only came out now to convey these words was not to persuade the two families to cease fighting, but clearly to add some obstacles to Yuan Shao's subsequent control of Ji Province on a moral level.

Yuan Shao glared at Zhao Yun, waved his hand, and immediately ordered the archers who had been urgently assembled to begin aiming at the direction of the Jie Bridge and drawing their bows.

However, before the Yuan army could unleash a volley of arrows, Zhao Yun changed his awe-inspiring murderous intent, turned his horse's head, and flashed towards the Jie Bridge.

A large number of arrows rained down, centered on the bridgehead of the Jie Bridge, but failed to create the slightest obstacle for Zhao Yun, who had dodged in advance.

Seeing this, Yuan Shao was still unwilling to give up and wanted to order the army to pursue along the Jie Bridge, but was quickly dissuaded by Tian Feng and a group of advisors.

Under Guo Jia's command, tens of thousands of cavalrymen had also formed a formation on the north bank of the Qing River.

In addition, the Yuan army had been fighting for a long time, relying on attacking halfway across the river and water attacks. Even though they had achieved a great victory in this battle, their own losses were not light, and the army was equally exhausted.

If the Yuan army blindly pursued and charged across the Jie Bridge, with Guo Jia's arrangement of tens of thousands of cavalrymen skilled in mounted archery stationed there, the Yuan army might not be able to cross the Jie Bridge, and might even face the risk of turning victory into defeat.

Reluctantly, Yuan Shao stopped at the bridgehead on the south bank, looked towards the north bank, and angrily said.

"If Liu Bei hadn't sent someone to ruin my good deeds, how could Gongsun Bogui have left this place alive? The three provinces north of the Yellow River will soon be in my hands, how hateful! !"

Xu You, who was behind Yuan Shao, quickly said.

"Lord, don't worry. Although this battle was not completely successful, Gongsun Zan is already unlikely to achieve anything. He can only slowly retreat back to You Province. With only Han Fu alone, how can he be a match for you?"

"When the time comes, Lord, with the prestige of the great victory at Jie Bridge, wherever your banners pass, the two provinces of Ji and Bing, how dare anyone not obey?"

Yuan Shao stroked his short beard, and after hearing these words, a look of complacency could not help but appear on his face.

In the Battle of Jie Bridge, Yuan Shao won a great victory over the allied forces of Gongsun Zan and Han Fu with more than 60,000 infantry. This battle alone was enough to lay the foundation for Yuan Shao's dominance in the two provinces of Ji and Bing, and pushed the Yuan family's power to the extreme.

Compared with Liu Bei, who dominated the two provinces of Jing and Yang, Yuan Shao, who had obtained the two provinces of Ji and Bing, would not be inferior to Liu Bei in terms of territory, population, money, and food.

Liu Bei might have the advantage of ships, but after Yuan Shao opened up Bing Province, he would also have a steady stream of warhorses.

Yuan Shao and Liu Bei were the two hegemons, one in the south and one in the north, coupled with the heroes of the Central Plains, the world would gradually become a pattern of two hegemons and many strong men.

......

And the battle situation was just as the strategists under Yuan Shao had predicted.

Although Gongsun Zan led many defeated soldiers back to the north bank, after the initial statistics after the battle, only 10,000 of the more than 60,000 cavalrymen who had crossed the river returned to the north bank.

The rest had either become souls under the Yuan army's swords, or had been washed away by the滔滔river water.

Moreover, among these 10,000 cavalrymen, only 3,000 of the White Horse Volunteers remained, and the overall morale was so low that it was hard to imagine.

The seriously injured Gongsun Zan, after retreating to the north bank and confirming that Zhao Yun had safely retreated, fell into a coma, with a persistent high fever, and rarely had a moment of consciousness in a day.

Under such a disastrous defeat, it was naturally difficult for the Gongsun army to continue fighting, and they could only slowly retreat, return to You Province, and plan for the future.

And how to buy time for the Gongsun army to retreat, to avoid the Yuan army's close pursuit and another major rout, became a difficult problem.

After all, although the cavalry was fast, the alliance between Gongsun Zan and Han Fu had instantly broken down, and Han Fu could not possibly provide supplies to the Gongsun army at any time.

The journey from Jie Bridge to You Province was nearly a thousand miles, and with more than 20,000 cavalrymen eating and horses chewing, it was impossible to abandon logistical supplies.

For this reason, after Guo Jia considered again and again, not only did he not leave anyone behind at Jie Bridge, but he did not even destroy Jie Bridge.

Except for a dense forest thirty miles north of Jie Bridge, which was suitable for setting up an ambush, two thousand White Horse Volunteers were arranged to continue walking back and forth in the dense forest, alarming the birds.

The entire army took advantage of the night and directly withdrew from the camp, retreating towards You Province.

And less than two hours after the army withdrew, when the sky was slightly bright, Yuan Shao learned of this news.

However, the Jie Bridge that had not been destroyed made Yuan Shao, who had originally planned to immediately order the pursuit, suspicious.

It was not until Yuan Shao sent people to repeatedly investigate the north bank of Jie Bridge for ten miles, confirming that there were no ambushes, that he personally led the army across Jie Bridge to pursue.

Only, in this way, he inevitably wasted a full half day.

When Yuan Shao personally led the army along the messy hoof prints of the Gongsun army's retreat and the ruts of the vehicles transporting supplies all the way north, and arrived at the dense forest thirty miles away.

The large number of birds perched on the dense forest and dared not land, made the strategists under Yuan Shao alert.

In addition, when they rushed to this place in a hurry, the sky was about to darken, making that dense forest even more secluded.

The Gongsun army, perhaps, was setting up an ambush in the dense forest? !

The strategists came to this conclusion one after another, which made Yuan Shao dare not enter it lightly.

After all, it was true that the Gongsun army's morale was extremely low, but once the Gongsun army successfully ambushed, it might not be impossible to turn defeat into victory.

In addition, as the sky was about to darken, Yuan Shao listened to the suggestions of the strategists, and after careful consideration, chose to retreat five miles to set up camp and rest.

Then, after the sky was completely dark, Yuan Shao sent out twenty scout teams into the dense forest to investigate and confirm the ambush situation.

In the end, only seven or eight of the twenty scout teams safely returned, and the rest were all shot dead in the dense forest.

(End of this chapter)