Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Outside the camp, the mournful screams of the ambushed cavalry continued to drift in, grating on Cao Cao's nerves.

Cao Cao knew that he couldn't afford even a moment's hesitation, and had even prepared to have his generals brave the rain of arrows with shields to cover the retreat of some of the cavalry.

But seeing the White Horse义从 take the initiative to retreat first, Cao Cao hesitated.

Xi Zhicai, who had arrived in haste not long ago, quickly stepped forward to advise him.

"Lord, you must not hesitate, this must be a feint."

Xi Zhicai was a trusted strategist of Cao Cao, and he usually relied on him for planning and scheming.

But at this moment, Cao Cao frowned as he stared at the dark expanse outside the camp.

"Opening the gates to rescue them would risk the camp being breached if there were heavy troops lying in ambush outside."

"The White Horse义从's well-timed harassment may be to force me to hastily mobilize heavy troops out of the camp…"

Xi Zhicai understood that Cao Cao's guess was not entirely impossible, but the possibility was extremely slim.

Not to mention the difficulty of mobilizing a large number of infantry at night without being detected by Cao's scouts, and setting up an ambush outside.

More importantly, the Yangzhou army had also fought fiercely for a long time during the day, and they were exhausted. How could Li Ji, who was proficient in military tactics, continue to mobilize exhausted infantry to set up an ambush outside the camp?

"The enemy must know that it is difficult to continuously prevent our army from leaving the camp to support General Xiahou with the White Horse义从, so they are using such a clumsy feint to delay time. I hope the Lord will see clearly," Xi Zhicai insisted.

This plan is indeed clumsy…

But precisely because it seemed clumsy and contrary to Li Ji's ability, it was the reason why Cao Cao was hesitant.

If Li Zikun were to use a feint, would it be so clumsy?

Perhaps it is a lure?

Cao Cao was also anxious, eager to rescue Xiahou Dun and the three thousand cavalry who had been ambushed, but he understood that it was more important not to let the army fall into an ambush, otherwise Cao's army, which was already exhausted, might suffer a major defeat.

In less than a few breaths, Cao Cao made a decision, changing his original plan to send multiple elite detachments out of the camp at the same time, and only ordered Xiahou Yuan to lead his troops out of the camp to meet Xiahou Dun and investigate the situation outside the camp.

After receiving the order, Xiahou Yuan did not dare to hesitate, and immediately led his elite troops out of the camp gate, heading towards the direction where the fighting was constantly erupting outside the camp.

When Xiahou Yuan arrived at the battlefield, the three thousand Cao army cavalry seemed to have been completely disrupted and were being frantically slaughtered by the enemy.

This scene made Xiahou Yuan's heart bleed.

Xiahou Yuan knew exactly how much effort Cao Cao had put into building this cavalry, and Xiahou Yuan had even personally trained this cavalry for a period of time.

However, given the current situation, Xiahou Yuan did not dare to hesitate at all, and immediately ordered his troops to stop and form a formation on the spot.

Infantry rushing past in a chaotic formation to face cavalry would not only be of no help to the situation, but would only drag themselves in as well.

"Release the arrows! Release the arrows! !"

Suddenly, under Xiahou Yuan's command, hundreds of fire arrows streaked across the night sky and fell into the center of the battlefield, bringing a moment of light to the dim battlefield.

Xiahou Yuan's eyes kept moving, and he found that the battle was much worse than he had imagined.

The entire battlefield was almost completely occupied by enemy cavalry. Not to mention that the number of his own cavalry was scattered everywhere and fighting on their own, it was probably less than a thousand people.

However, Xiahou Yuan deliberately used fire arrows to illuminate the battlefield for a moment, in order to find Xiahou Dun's location.

Otherwise, in the dim battlefield, Xiahou Yuan could not shout loudly to avoid attracting more enemy troops to surround him. The possibility of finding Xiahou Dun in the dim environment by eyesight alone was very slim.

Fortunately, Xiahou Yuan found Xiahou Dun's location.

Unfortunately, there were also less than twenty cavalrymen around Xiahou Dun, and even Xiahou Dun was being defeated by an enemy general.

Xiahou Yuan was anxious, but he did not dare to make any noise. He ordered his troops to form a formation on the spot to deter the enemy cavalry, and continued to fire arrows towards the dense areas of the battlefield to disrupt the enemy, while Xiahou Yuan led his confidant guards towards Xiahou Dun's direction, intending to rescue Xiahou Dun first.

Xiahou Yuan slashed more than a dozen riders blocking his way, and when he arrived about twenty steps away from Huang Zhong and Xiahou Dun, he could finally vaguely distinguish Xiahou Dun's armor.

Immediately, Xiahou Yuan raised the big bow behind him and aimed at Huang Zhong's back.

Outside twenty steps, the bow is fast;

Within twenty steps, the bow is accurate and fast!

The bow was fully drawn, and the sound was like thunder…

"Hit!"

Xiahou Yuan shouted softly, and a stream of light went straight for Huang Zhong.

However, Huang Zhong, who had his back to him, seemed to have noticed it instantly.

The Nine Phoenix 朝阳刀, which had been firmly suppressing Xiahou Dun, suddenly turned, and directly protected the vital point of his back with the broad blade.

"Ding!"

An arrow closely followed and hit the Nine Phoenix 朝阳刀, causing Huang Zhong's hands to go numb.

Immediately following, Huang Zhong was furious!

Who is so unsportsmanlike to launch a sneak attack…

It was because Huang Zhong, who was proficient in archery, had an almost instinctive reaction to the sound of the bowstring. At the moment when the sound of the bowstring suddenly rang, he subconsciously protected himself, otherwise this arrow might have taken Huang Zhong's life.

Huang Zhong, who was furious, turned his head to look behind him, and met Xiahou Yuan's head-on slash.

"Clang!"

The collision of the two knives sparked a large number of sparks, and also allowed Huang Zhong to see Xiahou Yuan's face clearly and firmly remember this face.

Huang Zhong, who was furious, fearlessly included Xiahou Yuan in his range of sword light, and faced the joint efforts of Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan with his own strength, and shouted angrily.

"Who is the thief general? Dare to report your name."

Xiahou Yuan did not respond, but tried his best to join forces with Xiahou Dun to defeat Huang Zhong.

However, Huang Zhong's martial prowess was completely beyond Xiahou Yuan's expectations.

Facing the tacit cooperation of Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, the two sides fought for more than ten rounds, but it was difficult to determine the winner.

This made Xiahou Yuan couldn't help but curse secretly: Where did this fierce general come from?

In Xiahou Yuan's view, Huang Zhong's martial prowess was completely comparable to the Zhao, Guan, and Zhang trio he knew well.

Immediately, Xiahou Yuan shouted to Xiahou Dun in a hurry.

"Don't be entangled in the battle, go!"

Xiahou Dun had long wanted to retreat, but he had been targeted by Huang Zhong after barely gathering a hundred riders, and he was suppressed by Huang Zhong so much that he had no temper at all, and he couldn't leave even if he wanted to.

Now that Xiahou Yuan had relieved him, Xiahou Dun did not hesitate at all. After the two joined forces to temporarily force Huang Zhong back, they patted their horses and wanted to retreat.

"Where are you going!"

Seeing this, Huang Zhong was anxious.

Huang Zhong, who had surrendered to Liu Bei as a foreign general, had made contributions in the Battle of Jingnan, but he also craved more contributions to prove himself.

(End of this chapter)