Chapter 265 Just give up when you’re ready
"Bang the drum!"

Yuan Shang reined in his horse and held his halberd, shouting to those around him. Only about 200 heavily-armored personal soldiers were left by his side.

The participating troops continued to advance, and some subsequent lightly armored troops began to remove the armor of wounded or enemy soldiers after approaching the battlefield.

The accompanying drum cart started beating, and the beats became more and more rapid.

From time to time, arrows fell near Yuan Shang or pierced his large banner.

Yuan Shang, who was wearing a mask, remained unmoved. He did not expect that the small tactical improvement given by Black Bear would have such a miraculous effect.

The casualties will be heavier at the beginning of the battle, but after the battle, the casualties can be immediately equalized or even surpassed!
The fighting between the soldiers on the front line is a test of courage and endurance; when the casualties in a short period of time exceed the bottom line, even the Cao army, which is mainly composed of veterans, will find it difficult to hold on.

"Lord!"

Li Fu pulled his horse closer and pulled the reins hard. The horse raised its front hooves and shouted to Yuan Shang: "Gao Fan reported that the left wing has entered the enemy camp! Zhao Weisun also led the Liyang defenders to attack from both sides, and the Yanzhou soldiers were defeated!"

Yuan Shang turned his head to look at the eastern battlefield on his left and saw that half of the troops had broken through the fence defense line. In the distance, fireworks were already alight in Liyang City, and the defending general Zhao Weisun began to burn the city.

He turned his head to look at the battlefield on the western front on the right, where both sides were still shooting at each other with bows and crossbows.

Taking a deep breath, Yuan Shang said to Wei Yue, who was standing on his horse and holding a halberd beside him, "I'll leave the battle on the right wing to you, General."

"Don't worry, General."

Wei Yue turned his horse around, kicked the horse's belly lightly, and moved to the right wing with his Fang Tian Ji. More than 200 knights waiting outside drove their horses to chase after him.

In the middle of it was a large golden eagle banner, which was the Chanyu Eagle Flag that Black Bear had seized from the Huns. In addition to the banner, there was also a forged "Han Shou Ting Hou Pian Jiangjun Guan" battle flag.

These two hundred cavalrymen approached the right wing battlefield area, which immediately aroused Zhang Xiu's vigilance.

At this moment, Zhang Xiu still had nearly a thousand cavalrymen with him, and he wanted to go around the formation to test the waters.

But Cao Cao never gave the order, so Zhang Xiu did not dare to act rashly.

Just when he was anxious, he saw the legendary "Tai Shi Wen Gong" and dared not act rashly.

Just as he was in great mental distress, the officer beside him called out, "Sir, Lieutenant Le is leading his troops eastward!"

Zhang Xiu turned his head to look, but couldn't see clearly, so he turned his horse around and saw Le Jin, who was supervising the battle behind the formation, leading his troops to change the formation. The first formation of more than 500 people had already gone to reinforce Cao Cao's flag; followed by the second formation of more than 500 people.

Following the direction of reinforcement, Zhang Xiu saw that Yuan’s army had already broken in and started fighting with Cao Cao’s guards.

Yuan's army had no formation coordination, and in front of Cao Cao's banner, soldiers from both sides were fighting.

Zhang Xiu narrowed his eyes and stared, and saw that the officers and soldiers of Cao's army suffered more.

The archers of Yuan's army all shot at close range. Not to mention the ordinary soldiers, even the elite tiger soldiers around Cao Cao would be killed on the spot if they were hit by arrows in the face!

The bones of their faces could not stop the arrows from penetrating.

With Le Jin's full support, Cao Cao was able to hold his main camp.

However, there was no sign of a halt to Yuan's offensive, which made Zhang Xiu feel even more anxious, yet at the same time he felt that it was somehow natural.

Zhang Liao and Xu Huang have been transferred to the south bank of the Yellow River. If these two people are there, even if Yuan’s army’s tactics are strange, there will always be opportunities for counterattack and counterattack.

And now?

It would be difficult for Zhang Xiu to launch a counterattack on his own. Without reliable friendly forces to hold back and disrupt the enemy's infantry, how much effect could his less than a thousand cavalrymen have even if they charged out?
Besides, he didn't want to gamble whether the Tai Shi Wen Gong on the other side was real or fake.

Because of the great distance, he was not aware that the battlefield on the eastern front ten miles away had collapsed.

On the eastern front, the Yanzhou soldiers retreated early and retreated into the camp to defend themselves.

The 3,000 Jiyin soldiers who were recruited and trained by Cheng Yu fought hard and refused to retreat. Except for Cheng Yu who was dragged back into the camp by his personal soldiers, the other Jiyin soldiers under his command were attacked, surrounded and disrupted by the Hebei and Liyang soldiers, like an ice cube thrown into boiling water.

As it rises and falls, its shape becomes smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing.

The Hebei troops made good progress, but Cao's army still resisted stubbornly and fought to the death.

A dilemma immediately faced Yuan Shang: should he concentrate his forces to defeat the Yanzhou troops in the eastern camp, or should he withdraw his forces to launch a fierce attack on Cao Cao's central army?

As long as Cao Cao is captured or forced to retreat, the Yanzhou soldiers in the camp will have no way to escape.

Just when he was in a dilemma, Li Fu brought the latest battle report and asked Yuan Shang: "My lord, with the blood feud in Hebei, how dare the Yanzhou soldiers surrender?"

There is no such thing as the Yanzhou soldiers surrendering after Cao Cao was defeated and captured.

Even if Cheng Yu wanted to surrender, the Yanzhou soldiers would not dare to obey.

Cao Cao killed more than 80,000 surrendered soldiers in the Battle of Guandu. How could the Yanzhou soldiers dare to surrender to the Hebei soldiers?
It was difficult for Yuan Shang to give up the opportunity to fight and capture Cao Cao. It can be seen that Li Fu was anxious and he also knew that the battlefield endurance of the Hebei soldiers was far inferior to that of Cao's army.

The reason we have been able to hold on until now is entirely due to the blood feud and the good battle situation.

As long as they have the upper hand, the morale and offensive of the Hebei soldiers can be maintained.

If they maintain the offensive, Cao's army will be on the defensive and unable to organize a decent counterattack.

Therefore, the most stable approach now is to hold back Cao Cao in the middle lane and wait for the situation on the eastern front to change dramatically.

As long as all the Yanzhou soldiers are wiped out, even if Cao Cao’s central army cannot be defeated in the end, the Hebei soldiers can retreat calmly!
In fact, when Zhao Weisun led the Liyang defenders to break out and join forces with Yuan’s army on the eastern front, Yuan Shang had already won half the battle!
As long as you can escape from the battle with your army, you win!
The battle lasted until noon, when the soldiers on both sides became exhausted and the frequency of fighting decreased.

On the eastern battlefield, Captain Yan Jing, who was stationed in the west city of Liyang, led his Bohai soldiers to break into the camp first. The Yanzhou soldiers who were entrenched in the camp were still uneasy, so they directly blew up the camp and started to break out regardless of everything.

They are more afraid than anyone else!
I was afraid of dying in battle, getting injured, and even more afraid of falling into the hands of Hebei soldiers! Sometimes, death is a relief.

After losing his Jiyin troops, Cheng Yu found it difficult to control the Yanzhou troops. Surrounded by the fleeing troops, Cheng Yu mixed in with them and began to break out to the south.

The great retreat of the Yanzhou soldiers boosted the morale of Yuan’s army in the middle again.

However, after Le Jin's troops of more than 3,000 men arrived, Yuan's army in the middle was exhausted and could no longer get close to fire.

The crossbowmen were still in good physical condition, but their arms were sore and tired that they could no longer cooperate with the crossbowmen to effectively kill Cao's elite soldiers.

Cao Cao had calmed down, but he also wisely left the chariot and rode a majestic BMW.

He observed battles in various places and had learned and understood the bow and crossbow tactics of the Hebei soldiers.

Archers have a high shooting frequency, and crossbowmen can easily penetrate shields and armor at close range.

When the archers formed combat teams of three to five people, they all approached and shot at Cao's elite soldiers. These backbones of the army were sniped and killed one after another. The morale of the ordinary soldiers was low and they had no enthusiasm for fighting.

Cao Cao himself did not retreat, but instead gathered more than 7,000 Cao troops near him to put up a tenacious resistance. Instead, the troops gradually stabilized and adapted to the new tactics of the Hebei soldiers.

But Cao Cao and Cao Ren also knew that this was only a temporary adaptation.

Wait for the enemy archers to recover their strength and then carry out high-frequency group sniping again. After the squad leaders of Cao's grassroots army are sniped, the grassroots will still be out of control!
The stalemate lasted until about three o'clock in the afternoon. Both sides were exhausted and stopped hand-to-hand combat. The reserve armored soldiers stepped forward to provide guard and began to treat the wounded in an orderly manner.

At this time, the Hebei soldiers on the eastern front were liberated. After roughly cleaning up the battlefield, they split into two groups.

One main force attacked Cao Cao's flank, while another force of former Liyang defenders took a detour and prepared to attack the small town of Liyang dock.

At this time, Yuan Shang climbed up a sentry tower inside the fence line and observed the battlefield from a high place: "What a pity that Qian Zhao has not arrived yet!"

Qian Zhao was already on the way, but he didn't catch up; Cao Cao's main force in the central army also didn't catch up.

In this battle, all of Hebei's elite troops were deployed, and only the Yanzhou troops were defeated or severely damaged head-on.

Yuan Shang then observed where Cao Cao's central army was and saw that the entire Cao army's position was still strong and many Cao army officers and soldiers were still looking at him.

From the initial discomfort to now, Cao Jun probably just wants to regain the situation and fight another battle.

Yuan Shang couldn't help but think of the dispute between the snipe and the clam. The black bear was a fisherman, and Liu Bei was also a fisherman.

What can Hebei achieve by severely damaging and capturing Cao Cao?
While Yuan Shang was considering the timing and whether to retreat, the troops on the eastern front arrived and launched the first attack.

Without Yuan Shang's order, the Hebei soldiers who were resting on the front line naturally responded, surrounded them again and attacked from both sides.

At this time, there was no need for close-range shooting. Archers fired from two directions, and the dense formation of Cao's army was immediately in great trouble.

Cao Cao was hit by several arrows, but they were all bounced off by his armor.

Cao Cao went to see the battlefield on the western front again, where Zhang Xiu's more than 3,000 men were still engaging in bow and crossbow shooting with Hebei soldiers, who numbered three times more.

Because of Zhang Xiu's loyalty, Cao Cao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Before he could relax, Zhao Weisun and Yan Jing, who had made a detour, led the garrisons of Liyang and two cities and finally launched an offensive against the small dock town.

The defenders in the small town actively resisted. When Cao Cao was observing, he saw the Hebei soldiers pushing the crossbow carts finally crossed the fences and trenches and appeared in Cao Cao's sight.

As Cao Cao's eyes widened, Cao Ren beside him raised his whip and hit Cao Cao's mount hard on the butt.

The horse neighed loudly, and Xu Chu led his men to follow quickly.

Cao Ren also turned his horse around to retreat, but more than a dozen crossbow carts had already aimed and fired in advance.

A short spear-like crossbow arrow pierced the head of a knight next to Cao Ren. Almost instantly, Cao Ren kicked the horse's belly hard, causing the horse to charge wildly, disrupting the infantry formation.

The already dense defensive array became even more dense after being disrupted.

Cao Ren whipped the horse hard, and the horse rushed into the crowd like crazy, carrying Cao Ren and successfully breaking through the crowd.

Before Cao Ren could rejoice, more crossbow carts started shooting. The strong and heavy crossbow arrows were even more powerful when they were shot at close range.

In this first round of crossbow volleys, more than twenty knights were knocked off their horses.

As Cao Cao and Cao Ren broke through the siege and fled south one after another, Cao Cao's flag was still standing here.

Shi Huan and Le Jin were still shouting and passing orders in the formation, and the soldiers in the central army who did not dare to surrender could only grit their teeth and hold on.

Faced with the two-pronged attack from the Hebei troops, the more than 7,000 Cao troops were on the verge of collapse, but they still maintained their battle formation and slowly retreated southward.

Seeing that Cao Cao's central army was defeated but not collapsed, Yuan Shang could not help but sigh: "The enemy is determined to fight. By the time the troops led by Xun You and Han Hao arrive, our army will be exhausted and it will be difficult to withdraw."

Ma Yan, a wounded lieutenant who was following him, raised his head and asked, "My lord, do you want to withdraw the troops?"

"We have achieved our goal. If we can lead the Liyang defenders back to Yecheng, our army will have won!"

Yuan Shang felt a little regretful, he really wanted to see Cao Cao off for the last time.

"Withdraw!"

If they delay any longer, by dark, they already have wounded soldiers. If they want to withdraw, they will have to walk a long distance, which is too dangerous.

If we take these troops back and give them a little training, they will become elite troops that can fight against Cao's army!
What's more, the prestige of this battle is enough to secure his position in Hebei!
There is no need to take any more risks. What good will killing Cao Cao do to Hebei?
(End of this chapter)